BILL NUMBER: AB 2375	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Knight

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to add and repeal Section 25353.2 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2375, as introduced, Knight. Vehicles: public transit buses:
illuminated signs.
   Existing law authorizes a bus operated by a publicly owned transit
system on regularly scheduled service to be equipped with
illuminated signs that display information directly related to public
service and include, among other things, destination signs,
route-number signs, run-number signs, public service announcement
signs, or a combination of those signs, visible from any direction of
the vehicle, that emit any light color, other than the color red
emitted from forward-facing signs, pursuant to specified conditions.
   Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2017, a pilot program
that allows up to 25 buses operated by the City of Santa Monica's
publicly owned transit system for the first 2 years of the pilot
program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be equipped with
illuminated signs that display advertising subject to certain
conditions, including a display area of not greater than 4,464 square
inches.
   This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2018, a pilot program
that would allow up to 25 buses operated by the Antelope Valley
Transit Authority's publicly owned transit system for the first 2
years of the pilot program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be
equipped with illuminated signs that display advertising subject to
certain conditions, including a display area of not greater than
4,464 square inches. The bill would require the authority to submit a
specified report to the Legislature and the Department of the
California Highway Patrol by July 1, 2017, on the incidence of
adverse impacts, if any.
   The bill would make legislative findings and declarations
concerning the need for special legislation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 25353.2 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   25353.2.  (a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950, a bus
operated by the Antelope Valley Transit Authority's publicly owned
transit system, on regularly scheduled service, in addition to the
illuminated signs described in Section 25353, may also be equipped
with illuminated signs that display advertising and that emit any
light color, if all of the following conditions are met:
   (1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall emit
diffused nonglaring light.
   (2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall be limited
in size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.
   (3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall not
resemble nor be installed in a position that interferes with the
visibility or effectiveness of a required lamp, reflector, or other
device upon the vehicle.
   (4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall only be
placed on one or both sides of the vehicle, and shall not be placed
in a forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one
such sign shall be placed on either side of any single vehicle.
   (5) The mixing of individually colored light-emitting diode
elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
combination of light-emitting diode elements is not red.
   (b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be operated
as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode. However,
the electronic message sign display shall remain static while a bus
is operating on a freeway as defined in Section 257 of the Streets
and Highways Code.
   (2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
paragraph (1):
   (A) "Paging," meaning character elements or other information
presented for a period of time and then disappearing all at once
before the same or new elements are presented, is permitted if the
display time of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds. Blanking
times between each message shall be between 0.5 and 25 seconds.
   (B) "Streaming," meaning character elements or other information
moving smoothly and continuously across the display, is permitted if
the character movement time, from one end of the display to the
other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time of the entire
message does not exceed 10 seconds.
   (c) On or before July 1, 2017, the Antelope Valley Transit
Authority shall submit to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795 of
the Government Code, and to the department a report on the incidence
of adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the
utilization of illuminated signs on transit buses displaying
advertising pursuant to this section, if any. The report shall be the
product of a collaborative effort by Antelope Valley law enforcement
and transit officials, other local law enforcement officials in
whose jurisdictions Antelope Valley transit vehicles operate, and the
department.
   (d) The Antelope Valley Transit Authority's publicly owned transit
system may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25 buses with
illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years, after which
time the authority may increase the number of buses with the signs to
up to 30.
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because the Antelope Valley Transit Authority is facing an operating
revenue deficit in its public transit system and is evaluating
several strategies designed to enhance revenue over the next several
years, including the use of electronic illuminated signage that
displays advertising on local transit buses, which is not authorized
under state law. It is, therefore, declared that a statute of general
applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning of subdivision
(b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
Therefore, this special statute is necessary.