BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1243
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
AB 1243 (Lowenthal) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT : South East Los Angeles County Commercial Vehicle
Network Development and Advisory Committee
SUMMARY : Creates the South East Los Angeles County Commercial
Vehicle Network Development and Advisory Committee (Committee)
and prescribes its membership and responsibilities.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates the Committee within the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency (BT&H).
2)Requires the Committee to be convened on or before April 1,
2010.
3)Prescribes that the goal of the Committee is to develop a work
program focused on addressing commercial vehicle enforcement
issues.
4)Requires the Committee to report annually, by December 31, to
the Governor, BT&H, and the Transportation committees of both
house of the Legislature regarding progress made by the
Committee.
5)Prescribes the membership of the Committee to be three
members, appointed by the BT&H Secretary from nominations made
by each of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the Gateway
Cities Council of Governments (GCCOG). Members are to serve
without compensation.
6)Vests the Committee with the responsibility to develop a work
program and to coordinate efforts of participating agencies,
including consultation with stakeholders.
7)Requires the Committee to consider the following specific
activities:
a) Evaluate the current commercial vehicle fine structure
and the relative distribution of the resulting revenues;
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b) Evaluate the potential to standardize fine structure and
process;
c) Make recommendations as to whether it is desirable to
relate the level of fines to the level of damage to
infrastructure and the risk of harm to people;
d) Review current statutory authority for rerouting
vehicles;
e) Review role of transponders or other technology devices
in relation to registration of commercial vehicles;
f) Review weigh-in-motion devices as a legal enforcement
tool;
g) Review vehicle dimension-in-motion devices as a legal
enforcement tool;
h) Review automated vehicle identification devices as a
legal enforcement tool;
i) Review automated driver identification devices as a
legal enforcement tool;
j) Review automated load identification devices as a legal
enforcement tool;
aa)Evaluate the siting of truck enforcement facilities in
South East Los Angeles County; and,
bb)Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages in the
development of automated systems for truck enforcement and
inspection for South East Los Angeles County.
8)Provides that the Committee may accept grants from federal or
local public agencies or from private sources to assist in
carrying out the functions of the Committee.
9)Sunsets the Committee on January 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW :
10)Vests broad responsibility for the construction, operation,
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and maintenance of the state highway system with Caltrans.
11)Vests broad responsibility for enforcement of commercial
vehicles with CHP.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : It is the author's intent with this bill to implement
modern truck enforcement facilities to service the large truck
volumes that operate in and out of the Southern California
ports. The author explains that, "Because truck enforcement
facilities must be sited in local cities, built by Caltrans, and
operated by CHP, there are a variety of stakeholders that must
work closely together. This bill will create an advisory
committee that will generate consensus and recommendations for
addressing the problem."
The sponsor of this bill, GCCOG, represents 27 cities in
southeast Los Angeles County. Gateway Cities is the
self-proclaimed "epicenter" for goods movement in the United
States and, as such, is heavily impacted by both the rail and
truck traffic that services the ports.
Despite the millions of truck miles traveled in the Gateway
Cities region, there are no permanent operating truck inspection
facilities on the I-710 freeway or within the area. In 2008,
GCCOG developed a "Gateway Cities ITS Integration Plan for Goods
Movement" in an effort to make goods movement more efficient and
to improve transportation mobility, reduce congestion, and
improve air quality. The plan included commercial vehicle
enforcement technology strategies as one aspect of the overall
strategy.
AB 1243 is intended to bring CHP, Caltrans, and GCCOG together
to collaborate in development of a commercial vehicle
enforcement system. The Committee would be convened for a
two-year period, during which time it is anticipated that any
costs incurred by the Committee, such as the cost of developing
studies, would be borne by federal, local, or private interests.
The Committee sunsets in January 2012.
Is legislation needed? Forming the Committee legislatively has
questionable benefits. The Administration, with the cooperation
of the GCCOG, could form the Committee administratively if it
determined it to be of sufficient priority. If the
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Administration does not deem it to be a priority, then it is
unclear how productive the Committee will actually be.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Gateway Cities Council of Governments (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093