BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 812
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB
812 (Hill)
As Amended August 18, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |15-0 |Frazier, Linder, | |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Brown, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Gomez, Kim, Mathis, | |
| | |Medina, Melendez, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Imposes additional requirements on the inspection of
tour buses. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol
(CHP), to the extent possible, to conduct inspections of tour
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bus operations without prior notice, including tour bus
operations that have a history of non-compliance with safety
laws or regulations, that have received unsatisfactory
inspection ratings, or that have had buses ordered out of
service for safety violations.
2)Requires CHP to immediately order out of service any tour bus
that is determined to have multiple safety violations during a
terminal inspection or at any other time, and prohibits the
tour bus from being operated with passengers until all safety
violations have been corrected and the tour bus is
re-inspected by CHP.
3)Extends the deadline by which every modified limousine that
has been modified prior to July 1, 2015, must comply with the
requirement to be equipped with two rear push-out windows from
January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2018.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines a "bus" as a vehicle designed, used, or maintained for
carrying more than 10 persons, including the driver, which is
used to transport persons for compensation or profit, or is
used by any non-profit organization or group, and defines a
"tour bus" as a bus operated by or for a charter-party carrier
of passengers (CPC) or a passenger stage corporation (PSC).
2)Requires CHP to regulate the equipment, maintenance, and safe
operation of tour buses.
3)Requires CHP to inspect every maintenance facility or terminal
of any person who operates any bus, including any vehicle in
that terminal, at least once every 13 months, with inspections
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of terminals housing more than 100 buses occurring without
prior notice, and prohibits a person from operating a bus
without this inspection having been conducted.
4)Requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC),
upon the recommendation of CHP, to suspend the permit or
certificate of a PSC or CPC for failure to maintain any
vehicle used in transportation for compensation in a safe
operating condition if that failure is either a consistent
failure or presents an imminent danger to public safety.
5)Defines "modified limousine," as specified, and requires every
modified limousine that has been modified prior to July 1,
2015, to be equipped with two rear push out windows, as
specified, by January 1, 2017.
6)Requires CHP to establish, by regulation, standards to ensure
that window exits are operable and sufficient in emergency
situations for limousine passengers, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, any costs to CHP should be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS: Tour buses operated by CPCs and PSCs are required to
be inspected every 13 months by CHP and additionally every 45
days by the tour bus operator. The findings of the inspections
carried out by CHP are reported to CPUC, and tour buses may not
legally operate unless the bus operator's terminal and
maintenance facilities have been inspected. Terminal
inspections typically include inspections of a vehicle's
registration, the driver's licensure, and the condition of the
vehicle itself. As not every vehicle is inspected in a terminal
inspection, and an inspection can still result in a satisfactory
rating even if some vehicles exhibit minor violations, recent
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events suggest current inspections may not subject carriers to
sufficient scrutiny.
The author cites a 2015 tour bus crash in San Francisco as the
impetus for this bill. While the crash was found to be the
result of driver error, according to the author, the vehicle had
never been inspected by CHP and was not properly registered with
CPUC. A subsequent surprise inspection of the carrier's fleet
resulted in the discovery of numerous safety violations that had
not been discovered in previous, scheduled inspections.
This bill would require additional inspections of tour bus
operations to occur without prior notice, and would require CHP
to immediately order out of service any non-compliant tour bus,
until the bus's safety violations are corrected and verified in
a subsequent CHP inspection. The author believes that
restructuring CHP's terminal inspection program will improve the
safety and oversight of tour buses operating in California.
Additionally, this bill extends the deadline by which modified
limousines must comply with the requirement to be equipped with
two rear push-out windows until January 1, 2018, as the
standards pertaining to those windows have not yet been
established by CHP regulation.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0004954
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