BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1223 Hearing Date: 4/19/2016
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|Author: |Huff |
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|Version: |3/28/2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Erin Riches |
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SUBJECT: Driver's licenses: provisional licenses
DIGEST: This bill expands the provisional driver's license
period from 18 to 21 years of age.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Establishes a provisional driver's license program for
individuals between 16 and 18 years of age.
Provides that prior to issuing a provisional license, the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) shall issue an instruction
permit, commonly known as a learner's permit. An individual
must be at least 15 years and six months old to apply for a
learner's permit, and must have taken, or be enrolled in,
driver education and training classes. The learner's permit
authorizes the holder to operate a motor vehicle only when he
or she is either taking a driver training class or is
practicing under the immediate supervision of a California
licensed driver 25 years or older.
Prohibits a learner's permit holder from applying for a
provisional driver's license until he or she has held the
permit for at least six months. Requires a permit holder,
prior to applying for a provisional license, to successfully
complete driver education and training classes; at least six
hours of behind-the-wheel training; 50 hours of supervised
SB 1223 (Huff) Page 2 of ?
driving practice, including at least 10 hours of nighttime
driving; and an exam required by DMV.
Prohibits, during the first 12 months, a provisional licensee
from driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. or from
transporting passengers who are under 20 years old, unless
accompanied by the provisional license holder's parent or
guardian, a licensed driver who is 25 years or older, or a
licensed and certified driving instructor. Provides
exceptions for medical necessity, school activities, job
necessity, need to transport an immediate family member, or if
the licensee is an emancipated minor.
Requires a provisional licensee who needs to drive under one
of the exceptions listed above to keep in his or her
possession the appropriate document, as follows:
a) Medical necessity exception: a signed statement from a
physician.
b) School activity exception: a signed statement from the
school principal, dean, or school staff member designated
by the principal or dean.
c) Employment exception: a signed statement from the
employer.
d) Family member exception: a signed statement from a
parent or legal guardian.
Allows an individual 18 years or older to apply for an
original driver's license by passing a traffic laws and signs
test, among other requirements. Provides that an individual
18 years or older who holds a learner's permit must be
accompanied by another individual 18 years or older when
practicing driving. Provides that this individual may
schedule a driving test at DMV at any time once he or she has
obtained the learner's permit.
This bill:
1)Expands the provisional driver's license program from 18 years
of age to 21 years of age.
2)Authorizes a provisional licensee who is 18-20 years old to
use a copy of his or her class schedule to document the school
activity exception.
SB 1223 (Huff) Page 3 of ?
3)Authorizes a provisional licensee who is 18-20 years old to
use a copy of his or her work schedule to document the
employment exception.
4)Waives the requirement for a provisional licensee who is 18-20
years of age to document the family member exception.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. The author states that because the provisional
driver's license program only applies to 16 -to18-year-olds,
teenagers are simply opting to wait until their 18th birthday
to obtain their driver's license. The author cites a study
based on DMV data showing that crash rates are significantly
higher for individuals licensed at 18 years of age, i.e.,
avoiding the provisional driver's license program, than for
individuals licensed at 16 or 17. The author also points to
the California Unintentional Injury Prevention Strategic Plan,
which cites vehicle crashes - particularly teen driver-caused
crashes - as a leading cause of childhood death and
hospitalization. In addition, data from the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety show that teen drivers without provisional
driver's license training have a 20% to 40% higher crash rate
than teens who do complete the program. The author states that
moving the age to 21 is a practical and proven method of
addressing this part of the overall California child and youth
unintentional injury prevention effort.
2)Background: California's GDL system. Prior to 1998,
California law allowed teenagers aged 16 to 18 years to obtain
a learner's permit or provisional driver's license with only
minimal restrictions, such as requiring an individual to hold
a permit for at least 30 days before applying for a
provisional license. SB 1329 (Leslie, Chapter 760, Statutes
of 1997) enacted the state's initial graduated driver's
licensing (GDL) system, including the six-month learner's
permit period, nighttime driving ban, and supervised driving
provisions. AB 1747 (Maze, Chapter 337, Statutes of 2005)
extended the ban on nighttime driving and on transporting
passengers under 20 years of age to 12 months. It also
expanded the nighttime ban by one hour. All states have had
some form of GDL restrictions since the mid-1990s.
3)Making it more difficult for older teens to work or go to
SB 1223 (Huff) Page 4 of ?
school? By increasing the GDL requirements to 21, this bill
could make it more difficult for 18 to20-year-olds to work
and/or attend school. To address this concern, this bill
provides less stringent requirements on documentation for 18
to 20-year-olds relating to school and work activities, as
well as waiving the requirement to document the need to
transport an immediate family member.
4)Teen drivers a shrinking demographic. Recent data published
by the Federal Highway Administration indicates that the
number of young drivers in the U.S. has hit an all-time low.
In 2014, roughly 8.5 million people aged 19 and younger had a
driver's license, and of those, only about a million were 16
and younger - the lowest number since the 1960s. This drop
may be attributable to a variety of reasons, including the
recession (e.g., less disposable income), the Internet (e.g.,
communicating via social media and shopping online), and
shifting attitudes. In addition, most high schools no longer
offer driver education and driver training as part of the
curriculum, and teens must instead pay to take these courses,
which may be difficult to fit into busy schedules.
5)Will teens simply put off their license until 21? According to
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the fatal crash
rate per mile driven for 16 to 17-year-olds is nearly twice as
high as it is for 18 to19-year-olds. This could mean that
these young drivers are less safe than older drivers, or that
GDL programs are working: crash rates are higher for novice
drivers than for "trained" drivers. By the same token,
however, extending the provisional driver's license period to
21 could encourage teens to wait even longer to obtain a
driver's license -resulting in even more "untrained" drivers
on California's roads. The sponsor of this bill, Impact Teen
Drivers, notes that research indicates that risk-taking
decreases significantly, and decision-making improves
significantly, when individuals reach their 20s; they note
that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention crash data
indicates lower crash rates for novice drivers in their 20s
than for novice drivers in their teens. In addition, the
author notes that extending the provisional license program to
21 makes it difficult for a teen to simply put off obtaining a
license, as the need to be able to drive oneself increases
after an individual graduates from high school and heads to
college, obtains a full-time job, etc.
SB 1223 (Huff) Page 5 of ?
Related Legislation:
SCR 69 (Galgiani) -requests the DMV to conduct a study regarding
the possible effects of reducing the minimum age for a learner's
permit to 15 years of age. This bill is also being heard in the
Senate Transportation and Housing committee today.
AB 2322 (Chu) - requires DMV to provide the recipient of a
learner's permit with a removable and transferrable decal that
reads "student driver" and authorizes the permit holder to
display the decal on the side or rear window of the vehicle when
driving. This bill is pending in the Assembly Transportation
Committee.
AB 235 (Frazier, 2015) -would have expanded restrictions on
driving for provisional licensees from the first 12 months to
the entire period of the provisional license. This bill was
passed by the Senate Transportation and Housing committee on a
10-1 vote but was subsequently held on the Senate Appropriations
Committee suspense file.
AB 1801 (Frazier, 2014) -would have expanded restrictions on
driving for provisional licensees until age 18. This bill was
held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 1113 (Frazier, 2013) - would have expanded restrictions on
driving for provisional licensees, including a three-month
increase in the minimum time an individual must hold a learner's
permit before applying for a driver's license, increasing the
age of passengers a provisional licensee could transport,
expanding nighttime driving restrictions, and prohibiting DMV
from issuing a provisional license or full license to a driver
who does not have a six-month period of conviction-free driving.
This bill was passed by the Senate Transportation and Housing
committee on an 11-0 vote but was subsequently vetoed by
Governor Brown.
AB 724 (Cooley, 2013) - would have extended the provisional
driver's license requirements to those under age 20 instead of
those under age 18. This bill was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SB 1223 (Huff) Page 6 of ?
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 13, 2016.)
SUPPORT:
California Association of Highway Patrolmen (co-sponsor)
Impact Teen Drivers (co-sponsor)
California Casualty
National Safety Council
OPPOSITION:
None received
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