BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 636|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 636
Author: Jones (D), et al
Amended: 9/1/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 11-0, 7/7/09
AYES: Padilla, Benoit, Calderon, Corbett, Cox, Kehoe,
Lowenthal, Simitian, Strickland, Wiggins, Wright
SEN. TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-3, 7/14/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Oropeza,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Hollingsworth
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-2, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Runner, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland+
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/14/09 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Charter-party carriers
SOURCE : California Bus Association
DIGEST : This bill places new restrictions and
requirements on the operations of charter-party carriers.
CONTINUED
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Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/09 avoids chaptering out
problems with AB 134 (Blakeslee), and changes when the
Public Utilities Commission must revoke a charter party
carrier permit for a lapse in insurance coverage to provide
that such a lapse must have resulted in a citation.
ANALYSIS : Current law permits the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) to cancel, revoke, or suspend
any operating permit or certificate upon specified
violations.
Current law prohibits a charter-party carrier from engaging
in transportation services, without obtaining a specified
certificate or permit from the PUC.
Current law provides that whenever the CPUC suspends the
certificate or permit of any charter-party carrier for
failure to maintain any vehicle or failure to enroll all
drivers in a specified system, the PUC shall hold a hearing
within a reasonable time, not to exceed 21 days.
This bill places the following restrictions and
requirements on charter-party carriers of passengers and
bus drivers:
1.Imposes a five-year suspension from driving any kind of
passenger bus if a person drives a charter bus without
having the appropriate driver's license, endorsement, or
certificate to operate such a vehicle.
2.Requires the CPUC to permanently revoke a permit to
operate as a charter-party carrier if the business
operates a bus without CPUC certification, operates a bus
that was suspended by the CPUC for specified reasons,
knowingly employs a driver who is not properly and
licensed and certified to operate a bus, or has one or
more buses improperly registered with the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV).
3.Authorizes the Department of the California Highway
Patrol to impound the bus of a charter-party carrier for
30 days when a bus driver operates the vehicle without
the proper licensure and certification from CPUC and DMV.
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4.Requires the CPUC to hold a hearing, upon request, to
appeal the decision to permanently revoke a charter-party
carrier's permit to operate.
The bill is contingent on the passage of AB 951 (Lieu).
Background
The Charter-Party Carriers' Act secures adequate and
dependable transportation by carriers operating upon the
highways; full and unrestricted flow of traffic by motor
carriers over the highways which will adequately meet
reasonable public demands by providing for the regulations
for all transportation agencies with respect to accident
indemnity so that adequate and dependable service by all
necessary transportation agencies shall be maintained and
the full use of the highways preserved to the public, and
to promote carrier and public safety through its safety
enforcement regulations.
Charter-party carriers furnish limousines-for-hire or
passenger charter transportation service in motor vehicles.
Charter party carriers provide different sized vehicles to
take a scheduled group of people to another location and/or
back. Charter-party carriers do not include vehicles on a
set schedule or between fixed termini, taxi cabs, car
rentals, or city buses.
This bill is in response to a series of incidents by bus
charter companies who have been operating in disregard of
the law. In general, the bill is a "one strike and you're
out" approach to bus safety. It is sponsored by the
California Bus Association.
The author's office has provided an example of an incident
where a bus driver from a charter-party carrier company had
been in violation of the law by not being properly licensed
to operate his vehicle.
On October 5, 2008, a charter bus en route from Sacramento
to a gaming facility swerved off the road and overturned
into a ditch, killing 11 people, including the bus owner,
and injured nearly 40 others. Most of the passengers were
elders from Sacramento's Southeast Asian community.
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As stated in a Sacramento Bee article on October 9, 2008
(Bus driver in Colusa County crash was not properly
licensed), investigations found that "neither the bus nor
the driver had the legal right to be on the road that
evening." Owners of the bus had legally designated it as
non-operational with the DMV in May 2008, meaning that the
vehicle should not have been on the road. Also, bus driver
Quintin Watts did not possess the required "passenger
endorsement" from DMV in order to be driving the bus, a
passenger transportation vehicle carrying more than 10
people.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
PUC Minor and
absorbable costs Special*
DMV programming Up to $200
Special**
*CPUC Transportation Reimbursement Account
**Motor Vehicle Account
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/09)
California Bus Association (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
California Nations Indian Gaming Association
California Public Utilities Commission
United Iu-Mien Community, Inc.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
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Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Fuentes, Gaines, Garrick,
Saldana, Smyth, Bass
DLW:cm 9/8/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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