BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1243
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: B.
Lowenthal
VERSION: 6/29/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: July 7, 2009
SUBJECT:
Commercial vehicles: Southeast Los Angeles County
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes, until January 1, 2012, the Strategic Area
Freeway Enforcement Task Force to improve enforcement of
commercial vehicle laws in and around the ports of Los Angeles
and Long Beach.
ANALYSIS:
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) owns,
operates, maintains, and repairs the state highway system,
including planning, designing, and constructing commercial
vehicle inspection facilities, commonly called weigh stations.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) operates and maintains these
facilities.
This bill :
1.Establishes the Strategic Area Freeway Enforcement Task Force
(task force) within the state's Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency (BT&H), which shall convene on or before April
2010, to develop a work program that will optimize the
effectiveness and efficiencies of the commercial vehicle
enforcement network in southeast Los Angeles (LA) County.
2.Directs the Secretary of BT&H to appoint the four members of
the task force, with one each from nominations provide by the
Gateway Cities COG, the Director of Caltrans, the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the
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Commissioner of the CHP. Committee members shall serve without
compensation.
3.Prohibits the use of state funds for expenses incurred by the
task force and states that the task force shall not be
required to implement the requirements of the bill unless
nonstate funds are made available for that purpose.
4.Makes the task force responsible for the development of a work
program and for coordinating efforts of participating agencies
to implement that work program. In addition, the task force is
to consult stakeholders including representatives from
trucking organizations, labor organizations, businesses
engaged in commercial vehicle operations, and the ports.
5.Directs the task force to consider the follow activities as it
develops the work program to improve commercial vehicle
enforcement:
Evaluate the current commercial vehicle fine structure
and the distribution of the resulting revenues.
Evaluate the potential to standardize the fine structure
and process.
Make recommendations as to whether fine levels should
relate to the level of infrastructure damage and harm to
people.
Review the statutory authority for rerouting vehicles.
Review the role of transponders and other devices in
relation to the registration of commercial vehicles.
Review the Weigh-in-Motion, Vehicle Dimension-in-Motion,
Automated Vehicle Identification, Automated Driver
Identification, and Automated Load Identification devices
as legal enforcement tools.
Evaluate the siting of truck enforcement facilities in
southeast LA County.
Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages in the
development of automated systems for truck enforcement and
inspection for southeast LA County.
1.Requires the task force to report annually by December 1 each
year to the Governor, BT&H, the Assembly Transportation
Committee, and the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
on the progress that has been made on the above listed
activities. The task force shall provide a summary of its
recommendations on these items to each member agency prior to
submitting the annual report.
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2.Sunsets on January 1, 2012.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The Gateway Cities Council of Governments (COG), the
sponsor of this bill, represents the 27 cities of Southeast
Los Angeles County. Included within the Gateway Cities region
is the Port of Long Beach, and the Port of Los Angeles is
immediately next door. The Gateway Cities COG notes that this
makes the region the "epicenter" for goods movement in the
United States. The combined ports of Los Angeles and Long
Beach comprise the fifth largest port complex in the world,
and the Long Beach Freeway, the 710, is the main northbound
corridor for truck traffic coming out of the ports. Currently,
between 30,000 and 40,000 truck trips service the ports every
day. Some predict that this could ultimately increase to
120,000 truck trips a day as the economy improves.
Proponents of this bill note that no permanent operating truck
inspection facilities exist on the 710 or within the Gateway
Cities region. The Gateway Cities COG adopted a set of safety
initiatives a few years ago. These included pursuing the
development of permanent truck inspection facilities, but upon
further review COG members decided that the traditional truck
inspection facilities approach will not work, because of the
multiple routes trucks can take to move cargo out of the
ports.
The Gateway Cities COG, working with the CHP and Caltrans, has
developed a new approach for a commercial vehicle enforcement
network to ensure that truck traffic on the extensive network
of freeways near the ports are monitored by a comprehensive
network of manned, unmanned, and mobile inspection units that
would enforce commercial vehicle regulations. The design,
financing, and construction of such a large and complex
enforcement network will require close cooperation between
many stakeholders, including Caltrans, CHP, the Gateway Cities
COG, and the trucking industry. This bill provides for that
cooperation.
2.Nonstate funds . This bill becomes effective only if nonstate
funds pay for its implementation. The Gateway Cities COG and
Caltrans indicate that Gateway Cities COG has received funds
from the federal government and has other resources available
to pay to implement the requirements of this bill.
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3.Technical amendments .
On page 3, line 21, after "efforts" insert "of the work
program"
Change "Southeast" to "southeast" where it appears
throughout the bill
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 64 - 11
Appr: 12 - 4
Trans: 12 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
July 1, 2009)
SUPPORT: Gateway Cities Council of Governments (sponsor)
City of Bell
City of Lakewood
OPPOSED: None received.