BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1551
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 2, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                 AB 1551 (Torres) - As Introduced:  January 26, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Insurance Vote:13 
          - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill expands an exemption from mandatory reporting of 
          traffic accidents to a private insurer for public safety 
          professionals when accidents occur when using a personal vehicle 
          at the direction of an employer. Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Adds private vehicles to the kinds of vehicles for which 
            accidents are not required to be reported.

          2)Requires private vehicles to be used at the request or 
            direction of an employer in order to be covered by the 
            exemption expansion established in this bill. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No direct fiscal impact is established by the expansion of the 
          exemption established in this bill. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill is sponsored by the California 
            Professional Firefighters to expand a current law exemption to 
            mandatory reporting of motor vehicle accidents for certain 
            public safety professionals. Under current law, peace 
            officers, California Highway Patrol officers, and firefighters 
            are not required to report traffic accidents to a private 
            insurer if these incidents occur while driving an 
            employer-leased or an employer-rented vehicle.   

          This bill ensures a peace officer or a firefighter is held 
            harmless with respect to mandatory reporting of traffic 








                                                                  AB 1551
                                                                  Page  2

            accidents if an accident occurs while operating a private 
            vehicle at the request or direction of their employer.

           2)Related Legislation  . In 2010, AB 2151 (Torres), an identical 
            bill was vetoed by the governor.  In his veto message, 
            Governor Schwarzenegger wrote, "While there may be reasons for 
            state and local entities to pay the costs of automobile 
            accidents while employees are responding to emergency 
            situations in their private vehicles, this measure would 
            require indemnification in all situations regardless of the 
            driver's fault, which is unwarranted. Moreover, the Internal 
            Revenue Service-established mileage reimbursement rate already 
            covers costs for insurance for employees that use their 
            private vehicles for work purposes."


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081