BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1155
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: strickland
VERSION: 1/25/10
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: May 4, 2010
SUBJECT:
Traffic law enforcement in off-street private parking facilities
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows cities and counties to enforce additional
traffic laws in off-street private parking facilities.
ANALYSIS:
Current state law provides that the provisions of the Vehicle
Code are applicable and uniform throughout the state and that a
local government may not enact or enforce an ordinance on the
matters covered by the code unless the code expressly authorizes
it. Among the things that the Vehicle Code authorizes a city or
county to do is to apply the Vehicle Code to private roads open
for public use, to private roads serving commercial
establishments, within mobilehome parks, and in certain
circumstances to private roads not open to public use.
With respect to off-street private parking facilities, current
law allows a city or county to apply only four specific sections
of the Vehicle Code, namely:
The general speed law.
The prohibition on reckless driving.
The prohibition on speed contests and exhibitions of speed.
The Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Law.
AB 1155 (STRICKLAND) Page 2
To apply these provisions of the Vehicle Code in one or more
off-street private parking facilities, the city or county must
approve an ordinance or resolution to that effect at a public
hearing after providing the owner or owners with at least ten
days notice. In addition, the owner of the property must post
in a conspicuous place at each entrance a sign of specified size
and lettering providing notice to motorists that the parking
facility is subject to traffic regulations and control.
This bill adds the following offenses to the list of Vehicle
Code violations that a city or county may apply to an off-street
private parking facility:
Throwing a substance at a vehicle.
Drinking an alcoholic beverage while driving a motor vehicle.
Drinking an alcoholic beverage while in a motor vehicle.
Possessing marijuana or an open container of alcohol while
driving a motor vehicle.
Operating a vehicle with a sound amplification system that can
be heard 50 or more feet away.
Permitting a child who is not at least six years old or 60
pounds to be transported in a vehicle without properly using a
child passenger restraint system.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, current law
prevents law enforcement from enforcing various Vehicle Code
violations in parking lots. As a result, police officers have
their hands tied from enforcing these violations even when
they are observing serious threats to public safety. This
bill will allow cities and counties, by ordinance or
resolution, to enforce various sections of the Vehicle Code in
parking lots, providing local law enforcement with additional
tools to combat public safety hazards.
2.Enforcement of general ordinances not affected . While the
Vehicle Code is clear that local governments may not enact or
enforce an ordinance on the matters covered by the code unless
AB 1155 (STRICKLAND) Page 3
the code expressly authorizes it, there is some ambiguity as
to whether this truly precludes local governments from
prohibiting and enforcing non-driving offenses that occur in
private parking facilities. For example, a local government
may have an ordinance prohibiting damage to private property
generally, and the local government presumably could enforce
this ordinance against someone throwing a substance at a
vehicle in a private parking lot. Likewise, a city may have a
general ordinance prohibiting the possession of marijuana, the
open consumption of alcohol, or the playing of loud music.
Presumably, the city could enforce all of these ordinances in
private parking lots. The author's intent with this bill is
to give local governments unambiguous authority to apply
specific Vehicle Code provisions in private parking facilities
but not to imply that local governments are otherwise
prohibited from enforcing general ordinances in private
parking facilities.
3.Will tailgating become illegal ? This bill allows a city or
county to enact an ordinance or resolution to prohibit a
driver or passenger from drinking any alcoholic beverage
"while in a motor vehicle" in a private parking facility.
While probably not the intent, a city or county could
theoretically use this authority in stadium parking lots
during sporting events. As discussed in comment two, on the
other hand, a city or county may already have general
authority to prohibit drinking in public.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 73-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 9-0
Pub. Safety: 7-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 28, 2010)
SUPPORT: City of Moorpark (sponsor)
City of Burbank
League of California Cities
OPPOSED: None received.