BILL NUMBER: AB 1706 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 6, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 26, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 25, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eng
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
An act to add Section 11343.3 to the Government Code, and to amend
, repeal, and add Section 35554 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1706, as amended, Eng. Vehicles: transit bus weight.
(1) Under existing law, the gross weight imposed upon the highway
by the wheels on any one axle of a vehicle is prohibited from
exceeding 18,000 pounds, except the gross weight on any one axle of a
bus is prohibited from exceeding 20,500 pounds. A violation of these
requirements is a crime.
This bill would , until January 1, 2015, prohibit a
publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator of a transit
system under contract with a publicly owned or operated transit
system from procuring through a solicitation process pursuant to
which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1, 2019
2013 , a new transit bus
whose unladen weight on any axle exceeds
21,000 20,500 pounds , and whose gross
weight on any one axle exceeds 24,000 pounds , with
specified exceptions . The bill would prohibit a
publicly owned or operated transit system, for the period between
January 1, 2013, to January 1, 2019, inclusive, from procuring,
through a solicitation process pursuant to which a solicitation is
issued on or after January 1, 2013, a new transit bus whose unladen
weight on any one axle exceeds 21,000 pounds, or whose gross laden
weight on any one axle exceeds 24,000 pounds, unless every city and
county through which the transit bus would operate has approved the
procurement or the operation of the transit bus. The bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new
requirements upon transit buses.
Existing law requires state agencies to comply with specified
procedures when promulgating and adopting administrative regulations.
The bill would require state regulatory agencies that are required
to promulgate administrative regulations to take into account
vehicle weight impacts and the ability of vehicle manufacturers and
vehicle operators to comply with laws limiting the weight of
vehicles.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Fully funded, efficient, and effective public transit systems
operating in a balanced transportation network do all of the
following:
(1) Support California's growing economy by moving people to their
jobs and to educational sites, by providing well-paying and stable
jobs, and by enhancing the value of surrounding real estate.
(2) Bolster the state's energy security by decreasing dependence
on imported oil.
(3) Contribute to California's greenhouse gas reduction and air
quality improvement goals.
(4) Save travelers time by mitigating traffic congestion as the
state's population grows.
(5) Afford the safest means of motorized travel.
(6) Promote equitable access to affordable, reliable, and safe
transportation for all Californians.
(b) The state should therefore support the continued building,
maintenance, and operation of effective local and regional public
transportation networks for, including, but not limited to, the
following additional reasons:
(1) Every one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) invested in
transportation infrastructure creates 47,500 jobs.
(2) Every one dollar ($1) invested in public transportation
generates approximately six dollars ($6) in local economic activity.
(3) Real estate, including residential, commercial, and business,
that is served by public transit is valued more highly by the public
than similar properties not as well served by transit. For example,
in the County of San Diego, residential properties for sale near
commuter rail stops were valued 17 percent higher than properties for
sale not near commuter rail stops.
(4) California oil production has steadily decreased since its
peak in the 1980s, which has resulted in an increased need for
imported oil. In 2006, California imported 55 percent, 328 of 593
million barrels, of the oil that it consumed. If the cost of oil is
calculated at ninety dollars ($90) per barrel, this level of
importation of oil results in twenty-nine billion five hundred
million dollars ($29,500,000,000) annually leaving the state. Public
transit in California currently reduces the need to import oil by
creating savings of 486 million gallons of oil annually.
(5) Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) in
high concentrations create dangerous air quality conditions that
cause at least 6,500 premature deaths, 9,000 hospitalizations, and
1,700,000 cases of respiratory illness annually in California. Public
transportation reduces carbon monoxide (CO) by 95 percent, VOCs by
90 percent, and NOx by 50 percent, per passenger mile, compared to
driving a private vehicle.
(6) To meet requirements set out by Assembly Bill 32 of the
2005-06 Regular Session of the Legislature that enacted the
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), and
Executive Order S-3-05, California will have to reduce its per capita
emissions from 13 metric tons to 9.5 metric tons by 2020 and 2
metric tons by 2050. By taking existing public transportation instead
of driving a car, a single person can save 2.1 metric tons, or 4,800
pounds, of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
(7) In the next 10 years, the California population is expected to
grow by over four million people, mostly in urban centers. This will
lead to more time wasted in traffic congestion. In 2005, public
transit prevented 540.8 million hours of traffic delay around the
country, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. The
monetary value of those savings was ten billion two hundred million
dollars ($10,200,000,000).
(8) Those traveling by personal vehicles or in trucks suffer much
higher fatality rates than those traveling by public transit. The
National Transportation Safety Board reports that 32,841 fatalities
occurred during the 2010 calendar year on the nation's highways
related to personal vehicle or truck use, but in the same year, only
44 fatalities were recorded related to public transit bus use.
(9) By 2025, an estimated one in five Californians will be over 65
years of age. Public transportation is already playing an important
role for this demographic group, 20 percent of which does not drive.
(10) Californians recognize the benefits of public transportation
and are responding with increased demand. Transit ridership is
growing and particularly increases when the price of gasoline
increases.
(c) However, as public transit ridership has increased, concerns
arise about the long-term sustainability of the transportation
network built to support cars, trucks, and buses, namely, that the
increased frequency of transit bus use disproportionately damages
city streets, county roads, and the state's highway and interstate
systems, due to the pavement wear impact of heavy transit vehicles
relative to other types of vehicles, as evidenced by the following:
(1) In 2002, the United States Congress directed the preparation
by the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation of
a study on the federal and state maximum axle weight limitations
applicable to vehicles using the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System
of Interstate and Defense Highways, as the limitations apply to
over-the-road buses and public transit vehicles. The study's purpose
was to determinate how the requirements of the federal limitation on
vehicle axle weights should be applied to over-the-road buses and
public transit vehicles, and, in making those recommendations, to
consider all of the following factors:
(A) Vehicle design standards.
(B) Statutory and regulatory requirements, including the federal
Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.) and the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.), as
amended.
(C) Motor vehicle safety standards prescribed under Chapter 301 of
Title 49 of the United States Code (49 U.S.C. Sec. 30101 et seq.).
(D) The availability of lightweight materials suitable for use in
the manufacture of over-the-road buses.
(E) The cost of those lightweight materials relative to the cost
of heavier materials in use as of the date of the determination.
(F) Any safety or design considerations relating to the use of
those materials.
(2) The report specified in paragraph (1) also included an
analysis of, and recommendations concerning, all of the following:
(A) The means to be considered to encourage the development and
manufacture of lightweight buses.
(B) An analysis of, and recommendations concerning, whether
Congress should require that each rulemaking by an agency of the
federal government that affects the design or manufacture of motor
vehicles consider the weight that would be added to the vehicle by
implementation of the proposed rule.
(C) The effect that the added weight would have on pavement wear.
(D) The resulting cost to the federal government and state and
local governments.
(3) In 2005, federal law was amended to temporarily provide an
exemption from the federal vehicle weight limitations for transit
vehicles on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways (the Interstate System), and to prohibit
specified states, including California, or any political subdivision
of those states, from enforcing a transit vehicle weight limit of
less than 24,000 pounds on the Interstate System. That exemption and
prohibition are in place until June 30, 2012.
(d) The Vehicle Code currently places a restriction on the gross
weight imposed upon the highway by the wheels of any one axle of a
bus, which cannot exceed 20,500 pounds. However, that restriction was
created in 1976 and is only 500 pounds heavier than the restriction
generally placed on any other type of vehicle operating on the
highways. In the case of vehicle axle weights, the term "highway" is
interpreted to include city streets and county roads.
(e) The federal study specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision
(c) referenced several reasons why public transit buses have become
heavier over the years, particularly in the more than three decades
since California first imposed a specific axle weight limitation on
buses, as follows:
(1) Requirements placed on bus manufacturers, as well as on
providers of local public transit service, to comply with new federal
and state laws and regulations.
(2) Heavier fuel tanks to safely contain alternative fuels such as
natural gas that are necessary to meet air quality standards and
engine emissions standards imposed on buses.
(3) Wheelchair lifts and other safety equipment necessary to
transport disabled passengers pursuant to the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.), as amended.
(f) Some local law enforcement agencies have begun to cite some
operators of public transportation services for operating transit
vehicles in excess of the California axle weight limitations for
buses, thus threatening disruption of efficient and effective public
transit service that otherwise complies with all applicable federal
and state laws and regulations, including those laws and regulations
that have compelled operation of heavier transit buses.
(g) Therefore, it is vital the state act immediately to clarify
that the public transit vehicles currently operating in California
are permitted to continue in transit service without disruption due
to the state's outdated transit bus weight limitation.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that bus manufacturers
move toward producing lighter buses that would comply with state and
federal law in order to prevent the damage that overweight buses
cause to California's system of local streets and roads, which
themselves are deteriorating due to maintenance and rehabilitating
funding shortfalls.
SEC. 2. Section 11343.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:
11343.3. Notwithstanding any other law, a state agency that is
required to promulgate administrative regulations, including, but not
limited to, the State Air Resources Board, the California
Environmental Protection Agency, the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, and the Department of Motor
Vehicles, shall take into account vehicle weight impacts and the
ability of vehicle manufacturers or vehicle operators to comply with
laws limiting the weight of vehicles.
SEC. 3. Section 35554 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
35554. (a) Notwithstanding Section 35550, the gross weight on any
one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500 pounds.
(b) A transit bus is not subject to subdivision (a).
(c)
(b) A transit bus is not subject to Section 35550.
(d) (1) A publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator
of a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1,
2019, a new transit bus whose unladen weight on any one axle exceeds
21,000 pounds, and whose gross weight on any axle exceeds 24,000
pounds.
(2) This subdivision shall not apply to any solicitation that has
been issued prior to or is pending as of January 1, 2019.
(3) For the period between January 1, 2013, to January 1, 2019,
inclusive, a publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator
of a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1,
2013, a new transit bus whose unladen weight on any one axle exceeds
21,000 pounds, or whose gross weight on any one axle exceeds 24,000
pounds, unless every city and county through which the transit bus
would operate has approved the procurement or the operation of the
transit bus.
(4) This subdivision shall not apply to a transit bus that is
operated in compliance with state and federal air quality regulations
requiring a demonstration program, including a hydrogen fuel cell
bus, or other zero emission or near zero emission bus.
(e) No
(c) A bus shall not
operate on the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense
Highways in excess of the weight limitation for transit buses
specified in federal law.
(f) (1) The gross weight limits specified in paragraphs (1) and
(3) of subdivision (d) shall be revised to conform to any changes in
vehicle weight limits for public transit buses that may be prescribed
in Section 127 of Title 23 of the United States Code (23 U.S.C. Sec.
127), if those changes take effect after July 1, 2013.
(2) Any new weight limit required pursuant to paragraph (1) would
apply to the operation of transit buses on all highways, streets, and
roads in this state.
(d) (1) A publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator
of a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1,
2013, a transit bus whose weight on any single axle exceeds 20,500
pounds except as follows:
(A) It may procure a new bus exceeding 20,500 pounds that is of
the same or lesser weight than the bus it is replacing.
(B) It may procure a new transit bus exceeding 20,500 pounds in
order to incorporate a new fleet class into its inventory if its
governing board adopts a finding at a public hearing that the fleet
class expansion or change in fleet classes is necessary to address a
need to serve a new or existing market pursuant to its most recently
adopted short-range transit plan, or to meet a federal, state, or
regional statutory or regulatory requirement, and includes a
consideration of vehicle needs and fleet size.
(2) If the board holds a public hearing to consider a procurement
made pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1), the board
shall provide written notice to those cities and counties on whose
roads the bus would travel of the public hearing at which this
procurement is to be considered and shall place in the public record
any comment of concern the board receives about the procurement.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision "fleet class" means a group
of transit buses designated by a publicly owned or operated transit
system or an operator under contract with a publicly owned or
operated transit system that owns those transit buses, if the transit
buses have a combination of two or more of the following similar
defining characteristics:
(A) Length.
(B) Seating capacity.
(C) Number of axles.
(D) Fuel or power system.
(E) Width.
(F) Structure.
(G) Equipment package.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 4. Section 35554 is added to the
Vehicle Code , to read:
35554. (a) Notwithstanding Section 35550, the gross weight on any
one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500 pounds.
(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2015.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.