BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 341|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 341
Author: Lowenthal (D)
Amended: 6/21/11
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-1, 3/29/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley,
Rubio, Simitian
NOES: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 37-2, 4/25/11
AYES: Alquist, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, Cannella,
Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson,
Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod,
Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner, Simitian,
Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Anderson, La Malfa
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-5, 7/14/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Construction vehicles: backup alarms
SOURCE : California Construction and Industrial
Materials Association
DIGEST : This bill requires that specified construction
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vehicles, as defined, operated in construction and mining
sites be equipped with an automatic alarm that sounds when
the vehicle backs up.
Assembly Amendments change the type of vehicles this bill
applies to from commercial vehicles to construction
vehicles, and provide a definition of construction
vehicles.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that vehicles be
equipped with specified equipment for safety reasons, such
as a horn, various lights and mirrors, and a windshield
defroster. Among the equipment requirements in state law,
each garbage truck must be equipped with an automatic
backup alarm that sounds when the garbage truck is backing,
whether that occurs because it is operating in reverse or
it is in another gear but rolls backwards. This alarm must
be audible at a distance of 100 feet.
The Department of Industrial Relations Division of
Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) safety orders
(i.e., state regulations) governing construction employment
sites require that vehicles at these sites capable of
hauling 2.5 or more cubic yards of dirt, rock, concrete, or
other construction material must be equipped with an
automatic backup alarm that is audible from 200 feet or a
functional equivalent to backup alarm.
This bill:
1. Requires that construction vehicles having a gross
vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or more that work
in construction or mining sites must be equipped with an
alarm that sounds automatically on backing and can be
heard from a distance of 200 feet.
2. Defines "construction vehicle" to include, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
A. A vehicle designed to transport concrete, cement,
clay, limestone, aggregate material, or other similar
construction or industrial material, including a
transfer truck or a tractor trailer combination used
exclusively to pull bottom dump, end dump, or side
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dump trailers.
B. A vehicle that is a concrete mixer truck, a truck
with a concrete placing boom, a water tank truck, a
single engine crane with a load rating of 35 tons or
more, or a tractor that exclusively pulls a low-boy
trailer.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/8/11)
California Construction and Industrial Materials
Association (source)
Associated General Contractors
Basic Resources, Inc.
California Dump Truck Owners Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Cemex
Diversified Minerals Inc.
Elements Specialties
Graniterock
Holliday Rock Company
Knife River Corporation
LeHigh Hanson
Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3
Specialty Minerals Inc.
Vulcan Materials Company
Werner Corporation
West Coast Aggregates, Inc.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office notes that
trucks traveling through aggregate plants or construction
sites pose occupational safety challenges due to their
numbers, mobility, and traffic patterns, changes in driver
and tractor-trailer combinations, and separate ownership
and operation. While most dump trucks have working backup
alarms and aggregate and construction sites enforce
Cal/OSHA alarm requirements, the author asserts that it
remains a challenge to ensure that every truck has a
working alarm, given the number of trucks and frequency of
changes.
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The author's office further points to the additional
public safety concern that while operating on public roads
or in areas outside of those covered by the Cal/OSHA safety
order, dump trucks and other construction site vehicles are
not required to have backup alarms. According to the
author's office, this bill was introduced to close a safety
gap the proponents perceive in current law regarding backup
alarms.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-5, 7/14/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Hagman, Halderman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber,
Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Nielsen,
Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Grove, Jones, Knight, Logue, Morrell
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Gorell, Mitchell
RJG:mw 8/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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