BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1186
Author: Blumenfield (D)
Amended: 8/18/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/22/09
AYES: Simitian, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Runner, Ashburn
SEN. TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-4, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Harman, Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-20, 6/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Employee parking
SOURCE : City of Los Angeles
DIGEST : This bill requires a lessor of parking spaces,
for any lease entered into on or after January 1, 2011, to
provide an employer who is subject to the parking cash-out
law with itemized parking costs.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/18/09 (1) require that an
employer provide an employee with parking cost information
from a lease upon request but specifies that the bill does
not create a right for an employee to review or challenge a
lease or proposed lease, and (2) add language to resolve
CONTINUED
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chaptering conflicts with SB 728 (Lowenthal) which is
currently on the Assembly Third Reading File.
ANALYSIS : Under current law, the "parking cash-out law,"
requires each employer with 50 or more employees that
offers a parking subsidy to employees to provide an
employee who does not use the parking space with a cash
allowance in an amount equivalent to the subsidy offered to
parkers if the following conditions apply:
1.The employer employs at least 50 persons, regardless of
the number of work sites.
2.The site of employment is located in an air basin
designated non-attainment for any state air quality
standard. (Practically speaking, this means every county
except Lake County.)
3.The employer provides free or subsidized employee parking
on leased spaces (i.e., on spaces the employer does not
own).
This bill requires a lessor (e.g., owner or operator) of
parking spaces, for any lease entered into on or after
January 1, 2011, to provide an employer who is subject to
the parking cash-out law with itemized parking costs in
either of the following forms:
1.As a separate line item in the lease, or
2.In a document provided to the employer within 30 days
after execution of the lease.
Comments
According to the Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee analysis, there is a widespread agreement that
employers are not complying with the existing cash-out law.
In part, this is because it is difficult to calculate the
value of employee parking when it is included with the
total cost of office rental space. Many owners of
commercial real estate "bundle" the cost of parking with
the cost of office space into a single lease price. In
order to facilitate compliance with the law and achieve the
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traffic congestion and air pollution benefits that the
parking cash-out law promises, this bill requires parking
owners to provide employers subject to the cash-out law
with unbundled parking costs. The author's office states
that expanded participation in the parking cash-out program
will help local governments comply with greenhouse gas
emission reduction targets.
The Benefits of Parking Cash-Out . In a 2002 study
entitled, "A Commuter's Dilemma: Extra Cash or Free
Parking," the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) found that
the parking cash-out law is inexpensive to administer and
offers numerous benefits, including easing traffic
congestion, improving air quality, reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, promoting social equity, and supporting
investments in other travel modes. The report cited a 1990
study in Los Angeles and Ottawa, Canada that found a 41
percent average reduction in solo driving when employees
had to pay to park. The LAO also noted a 2000 survey of
Bay area commuters, which found that while 77 percent of
commuters drive alone to work when free parking is
available, only 39 percent do so when they have to pay to
park. Moreover, only 4.8 percent commute by transit when
free parking is available, while 42 percent commute by
transit without free parking.
A 1997 study conducted for the Air Resources Board
examining the impact of the parking cash-out law on commute
behavior found:
1.Solo driving dropped 17 percent, from 76 percent to 63
percent of employees.
2.Carpooling increased by 64 percent, from 14 percent to 23
percent of employees.
3.Combined bicycling and walking increased 33 percent, from
three to four percent.
4.Vehicle miles traveled, along with their associated
emissions, decreased by 12 percent per employee per year.
5.Implementing parking cash-out resulted in an average
reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions to 367 kg (or
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nearly half a ton) per employee per year.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 728 (Lowenthal), 2009-10 Session . Authorizes local
entities to enforce the provisions of the parking cash-out
law. (On Assembly Third Reading File)
AB 2109 (Katz), Chapter 554, Statutes of 1992 . Enacted the
parking cash-out procedures in response to "a number of
studies which show that employees are much more likely to
rideshare using transit or carpools when they have to pay
the full cost of parking spaces" and a concern that
employer subsidized parking spaces distort the free market
and encourage single-occupant auto trips with all of the
associated problems like congestion and air pollution.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/09)
City of Los Angeles (source)
Breathe California
Coalition for Clean Air
Environmental Defense Fund
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office notes that
"The goal of this bill is to bring about greater use of the
existing parking cash-out program, in order to gain the
resulting benefits of traffic congestion relief and air
pollution reductions. Many owners of commercial real
estate offer 'bundled' parking with all other leased office
space. This practice makes it difficult, if not
impossible, for employers to separate the cost of parking
spaces associated with the commercial space that is being
leased. Without that information, employers are unable to
offer employees cash in lieu of parking subsidies."
According to some supporters, many leases do not indicate
parking costs, preventing "employers from easily
calculating the value of the parking for purposes of
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providing parking cash-out benefits to their employees" and
this bill "will make it easier for employers to offer
parking cash-out." Los Angeles is concerned that
"bundling" parking with leased space prevents employers
from determining parking costs.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Anderson, Blakeslee, Conway, DeVore, Duvall, Fuller,
Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries,
Knight, Miller, Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra
Strickland, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Emmerson, Nestande
TSM:cm 8/19/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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