BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 697 (Hertzberg) - Charter-party carriers of passengers
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|Version: April 9, 2015 |Policy Vote: E., U., & C. 11 - |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 4, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 697 would delete the requirement for the CPUC to
issue a decal for charter-party carriers with a valid permit.
Fiscal
Impact: Potential future savings up to $75,000 to the Public
Utilities Commission Transportation Reimbursement Account
(special) for reduced workload associated with issuing decals.
Background: Existing law requires that the CPUC issue decals to licensed
charter-party carriers. However, until recently, this
requirement was essentially inoperative because charter-party
carriers were previously required to use a special "livery"
license plate in lieu of the decals. Last year, the Legislature
passed SB 611 (Hill) Chapter 860, Statutes of 2014 deleted the
livery license plate requirements because charter-party carriers
SB 697 (Hertzberg) Page 1 of
?
would instead be required to display a distinctive identifying
symbol. However, in deleting the livery license plate
requirements, SB 611 inadvertently reactivated the requirement
the CPUC to issue decals.
Proposed Law:
This bill would repeal the requirement for the CPUC to issue a
decal for charter-party carriers with a valid permit.
Staff
Comments: The Governor's proposed budget included a budget
change proposal (BCP) for $227,000 and three PYs for various
responsibilities associated with charter-party carrier
regulation, including restarting the issuance of decals as a
result of the passage of SB 611. This bill, which is sponsored
by the CPUC, would negate the need for at least part of this
BCP. At this time the CPUC is not yet certain on how much the
BCP is for decal related workload, but they estimate that it is
likely less than one PY. Thus, the repeal of the decal
requirement is likely to result in savings up to $75,000
assuming that the BCP is approved in this year's budget.
Staff notes that it would be much more procedurally efficient
for the repeal of the decal provision to be included in a
trailer bill so that a smaller BCP can be approved as part of
the budget. It is unclear why the CPUC did not to take this
budget approach and instead opted to sponsor a bill while asking
for a larger BCP than should be necessary.
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