BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1151 (Cannella) - Vehicles: school zone fines.
Amended: April 21, 2014 Policy Vote: T&H 10-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 5, 2014 Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1151 would establish an additional $35 fine for
specified traffic violations that occur in a school zone. The
fee revenue would be deposited into the State Highway Account to
fund school zone safety projects within the Active
Transportation Plan (ATP).
Fiscal Impact:
Minor one-time costs to the Administrative Office of the
Courts (AOC) to program the new Vehicle Code violation
adding a $35 penalty to specified offenses committed in a
school zone (Trial Court Trust Fund).
Minor costs to the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
related to the administration of additional funds deposited
for use in the ATP (State Highway Account).
Unknown revenue gains related to the imposition of
additional fines (State Highway Account, for use on school
safety projects in the ATP).
Background: Existing law establishes a speed limit of 25 mph
when approaching or passing a school building or school grounds.
This speed limit applies where the highway is posted with a
standard "SCHOOL" sign and under the following circumstances:
while children are entering or exiting during school hours or
the noon recess period, or while the school grounds are in use
by children and the grounds are not separated from the highway
by a fence, gate, or other physical barrier. This sign may be
posted at any distance up to 500 feet away from school grounds.
If a local authority conducts a traffic survey and determines
that the 25 mph speed limit in a particular school zone is too
high to be reasonably safe, the prima facie speed limit may be
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reduced to either 20 or 15 mph, as deemed appropriate by the
survey.
Proposed Law: SB 1155 would impose an additional $35 fine on
drivers who commit specified Vehicle Code offenses when a
highway is posted with both a standard "SCHOOL" warning sign and
an accompanying sign notifying motorists that increased
penalties apply for traffic violations that are committed within
that school zone, and under either of the following conditions:
When passing a school building or school grounds
contiguous to a highway while children are entering or
exiting during school hours, the noon recess period, or
school-sponsored activities.
When passing school grounds not separated from a
highway by a fence, gate, or barrier while the grounds are
in use by children.
Revenues from the additional fines authorized by this bill would
be deposited in the State Highway Account for funding school
zone safety projects within the ATP.
Staff Comments: On average, approximately .2 PY of Caltrans
staff are needed to administer each $1 million available for
expenditure in the Safe Routes to Schools Program, which is the
component of the ATP that funds projects that enhance safety for
pedestrians and bicyclists near schools. Caltrans costs to
administer the additional funds generated by the additional
fines imposed by this bill would likely be minor, as it would
take over 28,000 violations subject to the fine to raise $1
million for school safety projects.
Staff notes that the additional fines specified in the bill
would only be imposed to the extent the roadway is posted with
the standard "SCHOOL" warning sign and additional signage
notifying motorists that increased penalties apply for traffic
violations committed within that school zone. The bill does not
require local jurisdictions or Caltrans to install these
additional notification signs, so it is unclear how many school
zones will ultimately be posted for the imposition of the $35
fine. If Caltrans and local agencies wished to install two to
four additional signs at each of the over 10,000 school sites in
the state, total costs would be in the range of $3 million to $6
million, assuming a cost of approximately $150 per sign. The
magnitude of additional revenues from the imposition of the $35
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is indeterminable and dependent upon the number of zones posted
with increased penalty notification signage and the level of
enforcement in those zones.