BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 1174
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: walters
VERSION: 4/12/12
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 24, 2012 REVISED
SUBJECT:
Vehicle length exemption: motor sports
DESCRIPTION:
This bill permits extra-long semitrailers of up to 56 feet, if
the semitrailer is used primarily in connection with
motorsports.
ANALYSIS:
Most large trucks on the highway are truck tractor-trailer
combinations. Typically, a truck tractor pulls a semitrailer.
A semitrailer is a trailer that is constructed so that some part
of its weight and load rests upon or is carried by another
vehicle, usually a truck tractor. A kingpin is the main pin
used to connect a semitrailer to a tractor truck. The distance
from the kingpin to the rear axle, referred to as KP-RA length,
determines the width of the turning radius of the
tractor-trailer combination. Generally, any increase in the
wheelbase of any vehicle in a combination of vehicles will
result in more roadway used to complete a turn.
On specified federal and state routes, existing law allows
semitrailers of up to 53 feet with a maximum KP-RA distance for
a semitrailer with 2 axels of not more than 40 feet, provided
the truck tractor is pulling only the semitrailer.
Existing state law also authorizes Caltrans or a local
authority, for highways under their respective jurisdictions, to
issue special permits authorizing vehicle combinations
consisting of a truck tractor-semitrailer with a KP-RA distance
of no more than 46 feet for vehicles used primarily in
connection with motorsports. These semitrailers also may be up
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to 53 feet in length, as existing law limits semitrailers in
California to a length of no more than 53 feet.
Existing law defines motorsports to mean an event, and all
activities leading up to that event, that an organization of the
Automobile Competition Committee for the United States has
sanctioned.
This bill deletes the authorization for Caltrans or a local
authority to issue permits for over- length vehicles used
primarily in connection with motorsports. Instead, the bill
explicitly permits semitrailers of up to 56 feet in length, if
the distance from the KP- RA is not more than 46 feet and the
semitrailer is used primarily in connection with motorsports.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author states that even though motorsport
trailers meet both weight and kingpin to rear axle
requirements, their overall length of 56 feet is 3 feet longer
than state law allows. When law enforcement measures and
impounds these 56-foot trailers, it costs racing teams tens of
thousands of dollars and gives them a disincentive to
participate at events held in California.
The author asserts that all other states offer these
motorsports trailers either an exemption or a permitting
process, or they simply withhold enforcement so the trailers
can operate within their jurisdictions. Proponents contend
that California is the only state that intentionally fines and
impounds these trailers for being longer than the 53 feet and
state that failure to change the law could result in racing
organizations and teams pulling out of events in California to
avoid the risk of these costly regulations. This would have a
negative impact on any potential economic recovery and would
also result in General Fund revenue reductions.
The author introduced this bill to make these longer trailers
legal.
2.Federal law . Federal law, the Surface Transportation
Assistance Act of 1982, governs semitrailer lengths in each
state, and regulations implementing that law read in part that
"no state shall prohibit the use of ? semitrailers of such
dimensions as those that were in actual and lawful use in such
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State on December 1, 1982 ..." An appendix to the
regulations show the "grandfathered" semitrailer length limits
for each state, including 53 feet for California. Other state
limits range from 48 feet in 25 states to 59 feet 6 inches in
Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Until very recently, Caltrans' representatives understood the
federal law to pre-empt a change to state law to go beyond the
53-foot limit on semitrailers. Caltrans now understands that
federal law pre-empts California from enacting a semitrailer
length limit of less than 48 feet.
The proponents of this bill, with supporting informal
communication from the U.S. Department of Transportation, also
assert that federal law allows states to set longer
semitrailer length limits but not to go shorter. CHP does not
concur and maintains that federal law would pre-empt
California from implementing a longer semitrailer length
limit. Further clarification from the federal government is
needed to know whether this bill is pre-empted or not by
federal law.
3.It all depends on the curves . Most state highway curves,
including freeway on and off ramps, have a radius sufficient
to accommodate a 46-foot KP-RA distance and a 56-foot
semitrailer. Local roads may not. Where roads cannot
accommodate these lengths, longer vehicles cross into oncoming
traffic, creating a great risk of accident. Requiring that
Caltrans and local road authorities issue permits to these
vehicles, as existing law does for longer motorsport trailers,
ensures that they do not travel on roads with curves that they
cannot navigate. This bill both deletes the permit
requirement and authorizes the longer semitrailers. The
committee may wish to consider an amendment to keep the
requirement that these longer vehicles get a permit from
Caltrans or a local road authority before traveling on roads
under their respective jurisdictions.
4.CHP enforcement history . Before 2005, law enforcement and CHP
did not consistently enforce the 53-foot limit on semitrailers
related to motorsports. After further review commenced under
a new commissioner, CHP officers began ticketing and
impounding vehicles with semitrailers exceeding the 53 foot
length limit and have done so since 2005.
5.Arguments in opposition . Writing in opposition, the
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Teamsters and Amalgamated Transit Union both assert that they
are opposed to allowing over-length vehicles on California's
highways because such vehicles are dangerous to other
motorists. In addition, opponents note that if this bill were
enacted, it could result in the federal government withholding
highway funding from California.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 18,
2012)
SUPPORT: National Hot Rod Association (sponsor)
Cruz Pedregon Racing
OPPOSED: Amalgamated Transit Union
Teamsters