BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 2777
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Trans. Com.
VERSION: 6/17/10
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 29, 2010
SUBJECT:
Transportation omnibus bill
DESCRIPTION:
This bill makes non-controversial changes to sections of law
relating to transportation.
ANALYSIS:
According to the Legislative Analyst, the cost of producing a
bill in 2001-02 was $17,890. By combining multiple matters into
one bill, the Legislature can make minor changes to law in the
most cost-effective manner.
This bill includes the following provisions. The sponsor of
each provision is noted in brackets.
1.Deleting obsolete reporting requirements. [Sections 1, 2, 3,
4, 11, and 12] Current law includes a number of reporting
requirements and an advisory committee that are no longer
relevant. This bill deletes the following obsolete
requirements. [Assembly Committee on Accountability and
Administrative Review]
A requirement that the California Highway Patrol submit
a risk assessment of California transportation's system to
the Legislature by January 1, 2003.
A requirement that the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) establish an advisory committee to develop
recommendations on ways to upgrade and modernize Caltrans'
AB 2777 (ASM TRANS) Page 2
data automation system to better track project delivery.
A requirement that the California Transportation
Commission report to the Legislature by September 1, 2002,
on the impact of adding an advance project development
element to the State Transportation Improvement Program.
A requirement that the California Transportation
Commission report to the Legislature on or before February
1, 1999, on the success of SB 45 (Kopp, Chapter 622,
Statutes of 1997) related to transportation financing.
A requirement that DMV submit an annual consolidated
report to the Legislature regarding the revenues and
expenditures related to special interest license plates for
state agencies.
A requirement that DMV submit an annual consolidated
report to the Legislature regarding the revenues and
expenditures related to special interest license plates for
non-profit organizations.
1.CTFA vote threshold. [Section 5] AB 798 (Nava), Chapter 474,
Statutes of 2009, established the California Transportation
Financing Authority (CTFA) to assist transportation agencies
in obtaining financing, primarily through issuing bonds backed
by specified sources of revenue, to develop transportation
projects. The CTFA board consists of seven members: five
ex-officio members and one member each appointed by the
Assembly Speaker and Senate Rules Committee. AB 798
established a quorum as four members and requires a vote of a
quorum to approve any action. Consistent with all of the
other boards and commissions housed within the Treasurer's
Office, this bill instead requires a majority vote of present
members to approve an action after a quorum has been
established. [Rohimah Moly, State Treasurer's Office]
2.Grammatical corrections. [Section 6] Legislative Counsel has
identified some grammatical errors in a section of law
proscribing transit-related crimes. The amendments correct
these errors. [Legislative Counsel]
3.Correcting a cross-reference relating to ambulance drivers.
[Section 7] Current law establishes the pull-notice system,
which provides the employer of a driver who drives a specified
type of vehicle, including an ambulance driver, with a report
showing the driver's current public record and any subsequent
convictions, driver's license revocations, failures to appear,
accidents, driver's license suspensions, driver's license
revocations, or any other actions taken against the driving
AB 2777 (ASM TRANS) Page 3
privilege. With respect to ambulance drivers, current law
cross-references the incorrect section. The bill corrects the
mistaken cross-reference. [Avery Browne, California Highway
Patrol]
4.Disabled license plates. [Sections 8 and 14] Current law
requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue
special license plates to disabled persons and disabled
veterans. Current law also allows a disabled person or
disabled veteran displaying such a plate to park for unlimited
periods in time-restricted spaces and for free at metered
spaces. This bill clarifies that disabled persons license
plates and disabled veterans license plates may only be issued
for motor vehicles, as opposed to vehicles, a term which
includes trailers. [Dennis Clear, Department of Motor
Vehicles]
5.Commemorative license plates. [Sections 9 and 10] Current
law authorizes DMV to issue both commemorative Olympic license
plates and commemorative collegiate license plates. This bill
clarifies that DMV may issue Olympic and commemorative
collegiate license plates as environmental (or "vanity")
license plates, displaying numbers and letters requested by
the vehicle owner. [Dennis Clear, Department of Motor
Vehicles]
6.Apportionately registered fleet vehicles. [Section 13]
Current law requires DMV to apportionately register and tax
commercial vehicles that are based in other states or
countries and that use California highways. DMV may make
these apportionment calculations on a fleetwide basis and may
place a lien upon all the vehicles of the fleet if the taxes
are not paid. If a fleet owner contests the amount or
existence of a lien, DMV must issue its findings, and the
fleet owner then has 20 days to request an administrative
hearing. This bill conforms California law to federal law by
allowing commercial vehicle fleet owners 30 days, rather than
the current 20 days, to request an administrative hearing of a
fleet apportionment lien. [Dennis Clear, Department of Motor
Vehicles]
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . The Assembly Transportation Committee is
authoring this bill as a means of combining multiple,
non-controversial changes to statutes into one bill, so that
AB 2777 (ASM TRANS) Page 4
the Legislature can make minor amendments in a cost-effective
manner. There is no known opposition to any item in the bill,
and if concerns arise that cannot be resolved, the provision
of concern will be deleted from the bill.
2.Technical amendments .
Delete Section 4 of the bill relating to the CTC's
report on SB 45.
On page 8, line 32 after the period insert
"Additionally, the authority may not take any action unless
a quorum is present at the time of the vote."
On page 9, line 6 strike "a" and insert "an"
On page 9, line 7, strike the first "a" and insert "an"
On page 10, line 1 strike "(f)" and insert "(g)"
Delete Sections 11 and 12 of the bill relating to DMV
reports on special interest license plates.
Add chaptering amendments to resolve conflicts with AB
1648 and AB 1944
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 74-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 13-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 23, 2010)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.