BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 628
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 29, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                     AB 628 (Block) - As Amended:  April 2, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                               
          TransportationVote:14-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the use of "pay-by-plate" license plate  
          identification recognition technology to accept payment of  
          highway tolls. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  


          Negligible fiscal impact, as the bill is permissive.


           COMMENTS  


           Purpose  .  According to the author, this bill would permit toll  
          road operators in California that already use vehicle  
          identification cameras for recording toll violations to use the  
          same technology for payment of regular tolls. In recent years,  
          advances in collection technology have allowed toll authorities  
          the ability to charge and collect tolls using digital images of  
          license plates. This pay-by-plate or video tolling makes use of  
          the open road toll enforcement cameras and the computer systems  
          already in place. 


          In California, multiple toll agencies such as the Transportation  
          Corridors Agencies (TCA) in Orange County use pay-by-plate  
          technology to process vehicles using the toll facilities when a  
          transponder is not detected. When a fee cannot be deducted from  
          a transponder because it is not properly mounted or a  
          transponder does not exist, a violation enforcement camera is  








                                                                  AB 628
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          triggered and the image of the license plate is taken and  
          manually reviewed so the transaction can be applied to the  
          customer's account. In 2001, 10%, of TCA tolls were collected  
          through pay-by-plate transactions. This bill provides toll  
          agencies the option to expand their pay-by-plate technology from  
          a complementary role in violation assistance to a primary mode  
          of collection.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081