BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 201
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: oropeza
VERSION: 4/13/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: NO
Hearing date: May 12, 2009
SUBJECT:
Impoundment of taxicabs
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes a $5,000 penalty on the legal owner of a
bandit taxicab that releases that taxi to a registered owner who
is not licensed to operate a taxi.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes local authorities to license and
regulate the operation of vehicles for hire and drivers of
passenger vehicles for hire. A local authority must adopt either
an ordinance or resolution to establish requirements for
licensing these vehicles and drivers.
Existing law requires a magistrate, when presented with
sufficient evidence by a peace officer or a designated local
transportation officer, to issue an order authorizing the peace
officer or transportation officer to impound, for not more than
30 days, a taxicab or other vehicle for hire that is in
violation of local licensing requirements.
Existing law requires the impounding agency to notify the legal
owner of the impoundment and to release the vehicle to that
legal owner without permission from the magistrate and prior to
the end of the 30 days, if:
The legal owner is not the registered owner but is a motor
vehicle dealer, financial institution, or other person
holding a financial interest in the vehicle;
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The legal owner or his agent pays all towing and storage
fees related to the impoundment of the vehicle; and
The legal owner or his agent presents documents showing
proof legal of ownership of the vehicle.
The legal owner, however, may not release the vehicle to the
registered owner until the termination of the impoundment
period. In addition, the legal owner may not relinquish the
vehicle to the registered owner until the registered owner
presents a valid driver's license and an operator's license that
is in compliance with the licensing requirements of the local
authority.
This bill :
1.Imposes a penalty of $5,000 on the legal owner to whom an
impounded taxicab is released, if that legal owner:
Releases the taxicab to a registered owner, his agent,
or the person in possession of the vehicle at the time of
the impoundment prior to the end of the impoundment period;
or
Releases the taxicab to a person who is not in
possession of a valid driver's license and a valid
operator's license.
1.Clarifies that a vehicle shall not be released from
impoundment at any time when it is found that the vehicle was
stolen or seized inappropriately, except upon presentation of
the registered owner's currently valid license to operate the
vehicle under the local authority's licensing requirements and
proof of current vehicle registration, or upon order of the
magistrate.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . To operate in Los Angeles, taxicabs must have a
permit from the city. To receive a permit, drivers must
undergo background checks, meet insurance requirements, have
their vehicles inspected, and meet certain customer service
standards. In addition, taxicab companies must ensure that
their fleets contain a certain percentage of
wheelchair-accessible vehicles as well as a certain number of
SB 201 (OROPEZA) Page 3
low-emission vehicles. A franchise fee must also be paid to
the city for the permit. Illegal taxicabs, also known as
bandit taxis, do not meet these public safety and customer
service requirements.
According to the bill's sponsor, the City of Los Angeles,
there are a number of bad actors who knowingly allow their
vehicles to be used as bandit taxis. These bad actors remain
the legal owners of the vehicles, but register or loan them to
others, who then drive them as bandit taxis. When a bandit
taxi driver is caught and the vehicle impounded, the legal
owner retrieves his vehicle from the impound lot prior to the
end of the 30-day impoundment period. Once the vehicle is
released to the legal owner, the legal owner then returns the
vehicle to the registered owner or other person who was
operating it illegally. Thus, the vehicle once again operates
as a bandit taxi. The bill attempts to stop this revolving
door for bandit taxis by imposing a fine on the legal owners
who return the bandit taxi to operation.
2.A growing number of arrests . The City of Los Angeles
Department of Transportation (LADOT) has a unit for taxicab
enforcement to ensure that all taxicabs and drivers are
properly permitted. According to the LADOT, in the ten years
from 1997 through 2006, its investigators made an average of
315 bandit taxi arrests per year. As a result of the Los
Angeles Police Department joining the effort to reduce the
number of bandit taxis operating in the city, that number more
than quadrupled in 2008 to1,427 arrests.
3.Penalty assessments . While this bill imposes a $5,000 fine on
a legal owner of a taxicab who is cited for releasing the taxi
to the registered owner prior to the end of the impoundment
period or to someone not licensed to operate a taxi, that fine
would increase to approximately $16,000 when the penalty
assessments in existing law are applied to it. The author or
the committee may wish to consider whether a fine of this
magnitude is an appropriate penalty.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
May 6, 2009)
SUPPORT: City of Los Angeles (sponsor)
Taxicab Paratransit Association of California
OPPOSED: None received.
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