BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1243
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1243 (Bonnie Lowenthal)
As Amended June 1, 2009
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Eng, Jeffries, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Blumenfield, | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| |Conway, Furutani, | |Hall, John A. Perez, Price, |
| |Galgiani, | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal, Miller, | |Torlakson, Krekorian |
| |Niello, John A. Perez, | | |
| |Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+----------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
| | | | |
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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
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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;
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,
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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 is required to implement
provisions of this bill only to the extent that nonstate funds
are available to the Committee for this purpose.
9)Sunsets the Committee on January 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW vests broad responsibility for:
10)The construction, operation, and maintenance of the state
highway system with Caltrans.
11)Enforcement of commercial vehicles with CHP.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, annual costs, from non-state funds, of around
$130,000 for two years assuming the equivalent of one full-time
staff position within BT&H to support the work of the committee.
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
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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.
Committee concern: 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 Administration does not deem it to
be a priority, then it is unclear how productive the Committee
will actually be.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0001295