BILL ANALYSIS
AB 463
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
AB 463 (Tran) - As Introduced: February 24, 2009
SUBJECT : Hazardous materials license
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of the California Highway
Patrol (CHP) to issue a new or hazardous materials license to a
motor carrier that had received, and then corrected, an
unsatisfactory rating within the past three years.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Vests responsibility to regulate motor carriers that operate
in California with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and
the CHP.
2)Requires motor carriers that transport hazardous materials to
have a CHP-issued license.
3)Requires CHP, under its Biennial Inspections of Terminals
(BIT) program, to inspect motor carrier terminals. During the
inspection, CHP reviews the motor carrier's records related
to, for example, vehicle maintenance, drivers' hour of
service, and driver proficiency, in addition to inspecting the
vehicles directly. The motor carrier must file an application
and pay specified fees to schedule this inspection at least
every 25 months.
4)Encourages motor carriers, except motor carriers of hazardous
material, to attain continuous satisfactory ratings by
allowing motor carriers with two successive satisfactory
inspections to be exempt from the onsite inspection under the
BIT program and, instead, be subjected only to an
administrative review. In the administrative review, CHP
examines the motor carrier's collision and citation history.
Motor carriers of hazardous material are not offered the
option of an administrative review.
5)Prohibits CHP from issuing a license to transport hazardous
material to a motor carrier unless each terminal from which
hazardous materials are trucked has been inspected under the
BIT program and has been deemed satisfactory.
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6)Requires CHP to adopt rules and regulations to provide for a
temporary hazardous material transport license for carriers
that have applied for hazardous material license and have not,
within the previous three years, been issued an unsatisfactory
rating during a BIT inspection.
7)State the intent of the Legislature that a motor carrier's
license to transport hazardous materials should not be
unreasonably hindered as a result of CHP's license
verification and issuance process (that is, its BIT
inspections).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the sponsor, the Southern California
Contractors Association (SCCA), this bill is intended to negate
just-promulgated regulations based on a misinterpretation of
recently enacted legislation, AB 1612 (Nava), Chapter 514, and
Statutes of 2007.
AB 1612 was introduced last session in response to the April 29,
2007, accident at the MacArthur Maze in Alameda County in which
a tanker truck, filled with gasoline, crashed and caught on
fire. The fire burned at very high temperatures and destroyed a
portion of the freeway.
In general, AB 1612 tightened license and inspections
restrictions placed on hazardous materials transporters. It did
this by:
8)Eliminating the opportunity to seek an administrative review,
in lieu of a regular BIT inspection, at any terminal from
which hazardous materials were transported.
9)Prohibiting CHP from issuing a license to transport hazardous
material to a motor carrier unless each terminal from which
hazardous materials are trucked has been inspected under the
BIT program and has been deemed satisfactory.
The industry originally voiced concern about AB 1612's
prohibition against issuing a hazardous materials license
unless a terminal had been inspected. The concern was that
CHP could fall behind in its inspections and, as a result,
motor carriers would be unable to secure a hazardous materials
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license for failure to get an inspection.
In response to this concern, AB 1612 was amended to state the
intent of the Legislature that a motor carrier's license to
transport hazardous materials should not be unreasonably
hindered as a result of CHP's license verification and
issuance verification process (that is, its inability to
inspect terminals in a timely manner). CHP recommended
addressing this concern further by seeking amendments to AB
1612 that would allow it to issue temporary hazardous material
licenses, while an inspection of the motor carrier was
pending. To ensure, however, that temporary licenses were not
issued to motor carriers that had previously been rated
unsatisfactory, the bill limited their issuance only to
carriers that had no unsatisfactory ratings in the past three
years. All other carriers were expected to have to wait until
their terminals could be inspected before they were issued a
license. With these amendments, opposition to the bill
subsided and the bill passed the Legislature and was signed by
the Governor.
According to the sponsor, a problem has arisen because of the
way CHP construed implementation of a temporary license.
Regulations, adopted earlier this month by CHP, would prohibit
any hazardous materials license, temporary or otherwise, to a
motor carrier if that carrier had had an unsatisfactory rating
in the past three years. This is contrary to the intent of AB
1612.
To illustrate the problem this interpretation has caused, SCCA
cites an example wherein one of its contractors owns a fuel
truck and had a hazardous material transport license. The
contractor received an unsatisfactory rating during a BIT
inspection. They corrected the unsatisfactory rating then
re-applied for an original license. The application was
denied, however, because the contractor's previous
unsatisfactory rating within the past three years, even though
the contractor had been re-inspected by CHP and found to be in
compliance. In this example, AB 1612, as intended, would
prohibit the CHP from issuing a temporary license, pending an
inspection, but would not have prohibited it from issuing a
license once the inspection occurred.
This bill is intended to, in effect, overwrite these regulations
for which statutory authority does not exist.
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Suggested amendments : The stated purpose of the bill is to
negate over-reaching regulations promulgated by CHP. The bill
does this by requiring CHP to issue a license to a motor
carrier who has remedied a previously unsatisfactory BIT
inspection. The concern with this approach is that there may
be other, unforeseeable circumstances wherein it would not be
prudent or safe to issue a license.
The committee recommends a more direct approach to addressing
the CHP's confusion about whether AB 1612 gave it the
authority to prohibit license issuance and proposes this
amendment:
On page 3, beginning with line 16:
(f) Nothing in this section is intended to prevent the
department from issuing The department shall issue a new or
initial license to transport hazardous materials to a motor
carrier that applies for a license to transport hazardous
materials and that, within the previous three years, has been
issued an unsatisfactory rating as a result of an inspection
conducted pursuant to Section 34501, 34501.12, or 34520, if the
motor carrier has corrected the unsatisfactory rating before
applying for the license to transport hazardous materials.
In addition to clarifying the provisions of AB 1612, this
amendment would also not preclude CHP from restricting the
issuance of a hazardous materials license under whatever
circumstances it deems necessary, with whatever other
authority it may have.
The author has agreed to take this amendment in committee as
author's amendments.
The Sierra Club opposed the bill in its introduced version but,
with this amendment, is removing its opposition.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Southern California Contractors Association (sponsor)
Engineering Contractors' Association
California Fence Contractors' Association
Marin Builders' Association
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Flasher/Barricade Association
California Chapter of the American Fence Contractors'
Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093