BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 986
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 986
(Hill) - As Amended June 20, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill reduces, from $100 to $35, the base fine for turning
right on a red light (rolling right turn), or turning left from
a one-way street onto another one-way street, without coming to
a complete stop.
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Significant loss of state and local penalty assessment-related
revenues for those portions of the total fine that are a
function of the base fine (see Background below). Reducing the
base fine for failure to stop before turning right on a red
light, or turning left from a one-way street onto another
one-way street, would result in the following reductions
(totaling $252) in fine and fee revenues for each conviction:
1)Base Fine: $65, to counties and cities.
2)State Penalty Assessment: $60, to State Penalty Fund,
distributed to nine other special funds, and county General
Fund.
3)County Penalty Assessment: $42 per conviction, to various
special funds.
4)Court Construction Penalty Assessment: $30, to various special
funds supporting court facilities.
5)Proposition 69 DNA Penalty Assessment: $6, primarily to state
or local DNA Identification Fund.
6)DNA Identification Fund Penalty Assessment: $24 per
conviction, primarily to state DNA Identification Fund.
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7)Emergency Medical Services Penalty Assessment: $12 primarily
to Maddy EMS Fund.
8)State Surcharge: $13 to state General Fund.
The DMV received reports of over 300,000 red light violations
for assessment of a violation point in recent years (356,000 in
2015 and 305,000 in 2014). The proportion of these violations
involving a driver turning right on a red light is unknown, but
if it was only 10%, the total revenue loss would be around $7.5
million, distributed among numerous funds, as described above.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill is intended to
correct a drafting error in AB 1191 (Shelley), Chapter 852,
Statutes of 1997, which increased the base fine for red light
violations from $35 to $100. The author asserts that AB 1191
was intended to only target drivers for going straight through
intersections or making left-turns against a red light, which
are the most dangerous violations at intersections and can
result in catastrophic right angle collisions. AB 1191 raised
the fine for these violations to more accurately reflect their
seriousness and the potential for catastrophic accidents. The
author notes, however, that AB 1191 also raised the fine for
failing to make a complete stop on a right turn on a red
light, a violation that is far less serious and, the author
argues, does not warrant the increased fine of a running
straight through the intersection, particularly given that
these citations, with fines and penalties applied, currently
have a total cost of $541.
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This bill reduces the base fine for rolling right turn
violations to $35, ultimately resulting in a total fine of
$289. The author indicates that lowering the fine for these
violations would make the monetary penalty commensurate with
similar types of relatively less serious violations, such as
failing to yield the right-of-way in a crosswalk and unsafe
turns or lane changes.
2)Background. In addition to base fines for traffic violations,
numerous additional penalty assessments, fees, and surcharges
are imposed for convictions of these infractions. Current law
specifies a complex process for the distribution of fine and
fee revenues to numerous state and local funds. Some of these
add-on fines and fees were enacted to fund specific
activities, such as emergency medical services or DNA-related
activities, while others support general court operations,
court facilities construction, or state and local general
funds.
The following assessments and fees are a flat charge per
conviction, and thus would not be impacted by this bill: $4
Emergency Medical Air Transportation Penalty Assessment; $40
Court Operations Assessment; A $35 Conviction Assessment Fee;
and $52 for Traffic Violator Schools. The following charges,
however, are dependent upon amount of the base fine:
a) State Penalty Assessment: $10 for every $10 of a base
fine.
b) County Penalty Assessment: $7 for every $10 of a base
fine.
c) Court Construction Penalty Assessment: $5 for every $10
of a base fine.
d) Proposition 69 DNA Penalty Assessment: $1 for every $10
of a base fine.
e) DNA Identification Fund Penalty Assessment: $4 for every
$10 of a base fine.
f) Emergency Medical Services Penalty Assessment: $2 for
every $10 of a base fine.
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g) State Surcharge: 20% of a base fine.
3)Opposition. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
(SFMTA) writes that reducing the fine for rolling right turn
violations would send the message to the public regarding the
seriousness of these offenses. SFMTA indicates that, between
2008 and 2014, 319 injury collisions occurred annually from
drivers running red lights, with an average of 14 collisions
involving right turns. (It should be noted that the fine for
the violations specified in this bill will remain at a much
higher amount, pursuant to current law, when the violation
results in bodily injury to anyone other than the driver. The
base fine in such instances is $220 for the first infraction,
yielding a total cost of $1,033.) A coalition of 18 pedestrian
and bicycling advocacy groups express concerns similar to
SFMTA.
4)Related Legislation. SB 881 (Hertzberg), also on today's
committee agenda, ends the practice of suspending an
individual's driver's license for failing to appear in court
or failing to pay a traffic fine for certain violations.
5)Prior Legislation. In 2010, AB 909 (Hill), an almost identical
bill, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger over his concerns
that it would send the wrong message regarding the state's
tolerance for these types of offenses. AB 681 (Hill), another
identical bill, was held on Suspense in Senate Appropriations
in January.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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