BILL NUMBER: AB 1266	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 29, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 23, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Nielsen and Cook
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to amend Sections 38603 and 38604 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles  , and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1266, as amended, Nielsen. Vehicles: recreational off-highway
vehicles. 
    Existing 
    (1)     Existing  law, commencing
January 1, 2013, establishes rules for the operation of, and
requirements for equipment of, an off-highway vehicle, including
prohibiting a person who is operating a recreational off-highway
vehicle from allowing a passenger to occupy a separate seat location
not designed and provided by the manufacturer for a passenger.
Existing law, commencing January 1, 2013, prohibits a person
operating a recreational off-highway vehicle from riding with a
passenger, unless the passenger, among other things, have both feet
flat on the floorboard.
   This bill would delay operation of  those prohibitions
  the prohibition that a person operating a recreational
off-highway vehicle shall not allow a passenger to occupy a separate
seat location not designed and provided by the manufacturer for a
passenger  until July 1, 2013, and would eliminate the
requirement that both of the passengers feet must be flat on the
floorboard. 
   (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
   Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 38603 of the Vehicle Code, as added by Section
3 of Chapter 165 of the Statutes of 2012, is amended to read:
   38603.  (a) A person operating a recreational off-highway vehicle
shall not allow a passenger to occupy a separate seat location not
designed and provided by the manufacturer for a passenger.
   (b) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2013.
  SEC. 2.  Section 38604 of the Vehicle Code, as added by Section 3
of Chapter 165 of the Statutes of 2012, is amended to read:
   38604.  A person operating a recreational off-highway vehicle
shall not ride with a passenger, unless the passenger, while seated
upright with his or her back against the seatback, can grasp the
occupant handhold with the seatbelt and shoulder belt or safety
harness properly fastened.
   SEC. 3.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   In order to protect off-highway vehicle operators, passengers, and
the public from acts that could lead to harm or death, and in order
to avoid unnecessary implementation that could cost the state money
and take away resources from other important activities, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.