BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 1570
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Wyland
VERSION: 2/24/12
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: no
Hearing date: March 27, 2012
SUBJECT:
Photographic enforcement of street sweeping parking violations
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows a local public agency to install and operate an
automated parking enforcement system on street sweepers operated
by a private vendor.
ANALYSIS:
Current law, until January 1, 2016, allows a local public agency
to issue parking citations for violations of street sweeping
parking restrictions based on digital photographs collected by
an automated parking enforcement system installed on
agency-owned or operated street sweepers.
Existing law subjects a local public agency that utilizes this
authority to the following conditions:
The agency must issue a public announcement 30 days prior to
beginning to issue citations and to issue only warnings during
the 30-day period.
The equipment must record the date and time of the violation
on the photograph.
A designated city employee who is qualified to issue parking
citations must review the images and determine if a violation
of parking restrictions has occurred.
The agency may issue citations only for violations captured
during the hours of the street sweeping parking restrictions,
except that the agency may not issue citations based on
photographic images for violations that occur after the street
has been swept.
Within 15 days of the violation, the agency must issue a
citation along with a copy of the digital photographic
evidence and information on the process for paying or
contesting the citation.
SB 1570 (WYLAND) Page 2
The agency must serve the citation by mail to the registered
owner's last known address listed with the Department of Motor
Vehicles and maintain proof of mailing.
The agency must allow a vehicle owner, consistent with current
law for all parking violations, to request an initial review,
to request an administrative hearing, and ultimately, to
contest the citation in court.
The agency must collect data and submit a report by January 1,
2015 to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary, this
committee, and the Assembly Committee on Transportation that
includes specified information.
In order to protect the privacy of both violators and
non-violators, current law includes all of the following
protections:
The cameras may only capture photographs when the system
detects a parking infraction.
Cameras must be angled and focused in a way that captures
images of the vehicles' license plates without unnecessarily
capturing images of drivers, pedestrians, or other vehicles.
Photographic images and any information read from license
plates collected by an automated enforcement system are
confidential and may only be accessed and used for the
purposes of this program.
The local public agency must destroy all photographic images
that do not involve violations within 15 days and all images
that do involve violations within 6 months or 90 days after
final disposition of the citation, whichever occurs sooner.
The agency must destroy the images in a manner that preserves
the confidentiality of any person included in the image.
The agency must destroy any information read from a license
plate at a location or at a time not designated for street
sweeping by the close of the next business day.
Current law provides that only a local public agency may operate
an automated parking enforcement system. An agency, however,
may contract with a private vendor for processing citations and
notices of delinquent violation, provided that the agency
maintains overall control of supervision of the automated
parking enforcement system.
This bill additionally allows a local public agency to install
and operate an automated parking enforcement system on street
sweepers operated by a private vendor.
SB 1570 (WYLAND) Page 3
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, street sweepers
remove pollutants, trash, and debris from streets and roads in
order to protect both the environment and the health of the
community. Illegally parked vehicles disrupt the ability of a
street sweeper to effectively sweep the entire street. These
illegally parked cars can disrupt the ability of the street
sweeper to clean up to three parking spaces in length.
The authorization in current law for cities and counties to
employ automated parking enforcement systems reduces the cost
for manual enforcement of parking violations. The law,
however, does not specify whether a city or county may install
an automated system on privately owned street sweepers
operating under a local government contract. This bill
clarifies that point, specifically allowing local governments
to install automated systems on street sweepers operated by a
private vendor under contract to the city or county.
2.System would remain under public control . While this bill
allows for the installation of photographic enforcement
systems on privately owned and operated street sweepers, the
enforcement system itself and the information it collects
remain solely under the control of the local public agency.
The public agency is not allowed to share or disclose any
images or information with the private owner or operator of
the street sweeper. In essence, the private vehicle is just
the stage on which the public enforcement system is set.
3.Cameras increase enforcement, efficiency, and revenue, too .
Allowing local public agencies to issue tickets from an office
based on photographic evidence costs much less, both in
personnel and equipment costs, than employing parking control
officers to patrol city streets, thereby increasing
enforcement efforts and government efficiency. The revenue
generated per ticket, however, remains the same. As a result,
any city or county that chooses to implement this authority is
likely to see a significant increase both in efficiency and,
due to the increased number of tickets the agency can issue
and the increased margin per ticket, in revenue. In
Washington, DC, budget officials estimated that automated
enforcement of street sweeping parking violations would result
in 237,000 more tickets in fiscal 2010.
4.Double referral . The Rules Committee has referred this bill
SB 1570 (WYLAND) Page 4
to both this committee and the Judiciary Committee.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, March 21,
2012)
SUPPORT: Redflex Traffic Systems (sponsor)
OPPOSED: None received.