BILL NUMBER: SB 516	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 22, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 6, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 21, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Fuller

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to amend Sections 2550 and 2557 of the Streets and Highways
Code, relating to highways.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 516, as amended, Fuller. Transportation: motorist aid services.

   Existing law authorizes the establishment of a service authority
for freeway emergencies in any county if the board of supervisors of
the county and the city councils of a majority of the cities within
the county adopt resolutions providing for the establishment of the
service authority. Existing law authorizes a service authority to
impose a fee of $1 per year on vehicles registered in the counties
served by the service authority. Existing law requires moneys
received by a service authority to be used for the implementation,
maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid system of call boxes and
authorizes moneys received by a service authority in excess of what
is needed for that system to be used for additional motorist aid
services, including, among other things, changeable message signs and
lighting for call boxes. Existing law requires the Department of
Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol to
review and approve plans, and amendments to plans, for
implementation of a motorist aid system of call boxes.
   This bill would  instead  require  that
  each service authority to determine how  those
moneys  received by it are to  be used by the service
authority for  service expenses associated with  the
implementation, maintenance, and operations of a motorist aid
system, including  the installation of  call boxes.
The bill would additionally authorize the use of those moneys for
traveler information systems, Intelligent Transportation System
architecture and infrastructure, and other transportation demand
management  services.   services, and
safety-related hazard and obstruction removal.  The bill would
require the Department of Transportation and the Department of the
California Highway Patrol to review and approve plans, and amendments
to plans, for  installation   implementation
 of a motorist aid system of call boxes  and any call
box removal plan.   pursuant to specified guidelines.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 2550 of the Streets and Highways Code is
amended to read:
   2550.  The Legislature declares that its intent in enacting this
chapter is to encourage a motorist aid system comprising multiple
service elements and infrastructure along the California Freeway and
Expressway System to enable motorists in need of aid to obtain
assistance. However, it is not intended that a motorist aid system be
considered an emergency system.
  SEC. 2.  Section 2557 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended
to read:
   2557.  (a)  The moneys received and allocated by each
service authority   Each service authority shall
determine how moneys received by it    pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the Vehicle Code shall be used
for the implementation, maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid
system, including the lease or lease-purchase of facilities and
equipment for the system, on the portions of the California Freeway
and Expressway System and a county expressway system, and the
unincorporated county roads in that county, and on state highway
routes that connect segments of these systems, that are located
within the county in which the authority is established as well as
associated service expenses. The department and the Department of the
California Highway Patrol shall each review and approve 
plans for installation   plans, pursuant to the
"CHP/Caltrans Call Box and Motorist Aid Guidelines," referenced in
Section 2451.5 of the Vehicle Code, for implementation  of a
motorist aid system of call boxes proposed for any state highway
route and shall be reimbursed by the service authority for all costs
incurred due to review and approval of the plan.
   (b) An authority or any other public entity may construct and
maintain, and lease or lease-purchase on terms and conditions it
deems appropriate, the facilities of a motorist aid system or it may
contract with a private person or entity to do so.
   (c) If leases or lease-purchase agreements are entered into
pursuant to subdivision (a), or if revenue bonds are issued and sold
pursuant to Section 2558, the moneys received by each service
authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the
Vehicle Code shall be used to the extent necessary to make lease
payments or to pay the principal of, and interest on, the amount of
bonded indebtedness outstanding, as the case may be. Facilities and
equipment acquired through the expenditure of proceeds from the sale
of those bonds shall have a useful life at least equal to the term of
the bonds.
   (d) (1) Any moneys received and allocated by a service authority
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the Vehicle Code
may be used for purposes of paragraph (2) and for full implementation
and ongoing costs to maintain and operate the motorist aid system
pursuant to subdivision (a), including, but not limited to, the
following motorist aid and safety-related projects:
   (A) Call boxes.
   (B) Changeable message signs.
   (C) Lighting for call boxes.
   (D) Support for traffic operations centers.
   (E) Contracting for removal of disabled vehicles from the traveled
portion of the right-of-way, including operation of the freeway
service patrol pursuant to Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 2560).

   (F) Traveler information systems, Intelligent Transportation
System architecture and infrastructure, and other transportation
demand management services. 
   (2) Any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid system of
call boxes adopted by a service authority for any state highway
route and any call box removal plan shall, prior to the installation
or removal of the call boxes, be submitted to the department and the
Department of the California Highway Patrol for review and approval
and those call boxes shall not be installed or removed until the
amendment or removal plan has been so reviewed and approved. The
authority shall reimburse each department for the costs of that
review.  
   (G) Safety-related hazard and obstruction removal.  
   (2) Any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid system of
call boxes adopted by a service authority for any state highway
route shall, prior to implementation, be submitted to the department
and the Department of the California Highway Patrol for review and
approval, and shall not be implemented until so reviewed and approved
pursuant to the "CHP/Caltrans Call Box and Motorist Aid Guidelines,"
referenced in Section 2421.5 of the Vehicle Code. The service
authority shall reimburse each department for the costs of that
review.  
   (3) Service authority funding provided for projects described in
subparagraphs (B),(F), and (G) of paragraph (1) is intended to
supplement, and not replace, department expenditures for similar
infrastructure and services on the California Freeway and Expressway
System. 
   (e) A service authority may develop policies for the retention of
records, including, but not limited to, authority operations,
contracts, and programs, and the length of the retention period.
   (f) A motorist aid system constructed, maintained, or operated
pursuant to this section shall meet the applicable standards of Title
II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law
101-336) and federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto.