BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2756
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: blumenfield
VERSION: 3/18/10
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 29, 2010
SUBJECT:
Mobile billboards
DESCRIPTION:
This bill defines "mobile billboard advertising display" and
prohibits the parking of these displays anywhere in the state,
other than in a parking lot or parking garage, unless the city
or county adopts an ordinance that provides otherwise.
ANALYSIS:
The California Vehicle Code provides that its provisions are
applicable and uniform throughout the state. A local authority
may not enact or enforce any ordinance on matters covered by the
Vehicle Code unless it expressly authorizes a local authority to
do so.
Local authorities may adopt rules and regulations by ordinance
or resolution regarding the following matters:
Regulating or prohibiting processions or assemblages on the
highways.
Licensing and regulating the operation of vehicles for hire
(e.g., taxis), drivers of passenger vehicles for hire, tow
trucks, and tow truck drivers.
Regulating traffic by means of traffic officers, official
traffic control devices, persons authorized for that duty by
the local authority, and at the site of road construction or
maintenance.
AB 2756 (BLUMENFIELD) Page 2
Operation of bicycles and of electric carts by physically
disabled persons or persons 50 years of age or older on the
public sidewalks.
Providing for the appointment of nonstudent school crossing
guards.
Regulating the methods of deposit of refuse in streets for
collection.
Regulating cruising, closing streets to vehicular traffic, and
diverting traffic under certain circumstances.
Regulating or authorizing the removal by peace officers of
vehicles unlawfully parked in a fire lane on private property.
Designating any highway as a through highway and requiring
that all vehicles observe official traffic control devices
before entering or crossing the highway.
Prohibiting certain vehicles from using particular highways.
Closing particular streets during regular school hours for the
purpose of conducting driver training.
Temporarily closing a portion of any street for celebrations,
parades, local special events, etc.
Prohibiting entry to or exit from any street by means of
islands, curbs, traffic barriers, or other roadway design
features to implement the circulation element of a general
plan.
The Vehicle Code also prescribes specific fines and assessments
for numerous violations of the code. For violations for which
the code does not prescribe a specific penalty, the Vehicle Code
provides a maximum fine in which case the Judicial Council may
establish the exact fine to be assessed.
This bill :
Defines "mobile billboard advertising display" as "any
advertising display that is attached to a wheeled conveyance,
or is otherwise mobile, that carries, pulls, or transports any
sign or billboard for the primary purpose of advertising."
AB 2756 (BLUMENFIELD) Page 3
The bill exempts from that definition any "vehicle that
displays an advertisement or identifies the business of its
owner, so long as the vehicle to which the advertising display
is attached is engaged in the usual business or regular work
of the owner and is not parked for the primary purpose of
advertising."
Prohibits a person from parking a mobile billboard advertising
display in a public place, other than a parking lot or parking
garage.
Provides that the provisions of the bill do not reflect the
Legislature's intent to occupy the field of regulation of
mobile billboard advertising displays.
Permits a city or county to adopt or enforce an ordinance to
regulate mobile billboard advertising displays that is more or
less restrictive than the statewide prohibition contained in
this bill.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, portable advertising signs
on unhitched trailers have surged in many communities across
the state. They are driven to a location where they are
detached and parked on city streets for hours or even days.
Not only are they a visual blight, but they pose a significant
safety hazard when motorists are forced to veer around them
into the next lane of traffic. They also reduce available
on-street parking and impair visibility of pedestrians and
drivers.
The City of Los Angeles has attempted to regulate mobile
billboards by way of local ordinance, but the effort has been
mired in litigation and difficult to enforce. In February the
Los Angeles City Council adopted a resolution in support of
statewide legislation that would help local jurisdictions
address this problem.
2.Author's amendments . The author intends to offer the following
amendments in committee:
Amend the definition of "mobile billboard advertising
display" to read: "a vehicle that displays advertising and
is for the primary purpose of advertising." The City of
Los Angeles is finding that advertisers are skirting the
AB 2756 (BLUMENFIELD) Page 4
city's ordinance by attaching the wheeled conveyance to a
motor vehicle. The amendment to delete "advertisement
display that is attached to a wheeled conveyance, or is
otherwise mobile, that carries, pulls, or transports any
sign or billboard" is intended to address those situations
when a company simply attaches the sign to a vehicle.
Authorize the impoundment of a mobile billboard
advertising display and provide that the issuance of a
warning citation, in lieu of posting signs, constitutes
notice of penalties. Current law authorizes the city to
impound a vehicle that has been parked in violation of
parking ordinances provided signs are posted giving notice
of the removal. Because these advertising displays are
mobile, the city would have to post signs throughout the
city, which it contends is impractical. Furthermore, the
city's parking ordinance in the areas where these displays
are left standing allows parking for 72 hours, precluding
law enforcement from impounding a vehicle for at least 72
hours.
This amendment contemplated by the author would allow law
enforcement to impound a vehicle without ever having to
issue a citation other than a warning citation. If such an
amendment is taken, the committee may wish to consider
requiring that law enforcement issue at least one citation
to the registered owner for the vehicle prior to
impounding. The city argues that one company, Lonestar, is
the main perpetrator and has been subject to numerous
citations in the past. The committee may wish to consider,
however, that while this may be true for the City of Los
Angeles, the authority to impound the vehicle would allow
any jurisdiction to impound these vehicles, provided it
adopted a local ordinance to do so, and offenders in other
jurisdictions may not have the same history as Lonestar.
1.Local authorization only . The bill establishes a statewide
prohibition on mobile billboards, but does not establish any
penalties for a violation of this prohibition. In spite of
this statewide prohibition, the bill states that it is not the
intent of the Legislature to regulate mobile billboards and
that the bill does not preclude locals from regulating them
via ordinance. By failing to establish statewide penalties
and leaving the establishment of penalties to local
governments, the statewide prohibition is not meaningful. The
policy justification for such an approach is unclear. A more
AB 2756 (BLUMENFIELD) Page 5
straightforward approach would simply be to authorize local
governments to regulate mobile billboards via ordinance and to
authorize the impoundment of such billboards, provided the
local government has adopted an ordinance to do so. The Los
Angeles City Attorney's Office indicates that such an approach
would give it the necessary authority to address the problem
it has been facing. Therefore, the author or committee may
wish to consider amending the bill to delete the statewide
prohibition and to authorize local governments to regulate
mobile billboards.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 47-19
Trans: 9-4
GO: 13-4
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 23, 2010)
SUPPORT: City of Los Angeles (sponsor)
Chatsworth Neighborhood Council
OPPOSED: None received.