Bill Text: CA SB1128 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Commute benefit policies.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-1)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-22 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 483, Statutes of 2016. [SB1128 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB1128-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1128 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 483
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 22, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE APRIL 14, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Glazer
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Hancock, Hill, Leno, and Wolk)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker, Bonilla, Campos, Chiu, Chu,
Dodd, Gordon, Levine, Mullin, Quirk, Mark Stone, Ting, and Wood)
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
An act to amend Section 65081 of the Government Code, relating to
transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1128, Glazer. Commute benefit policies.
Existing law authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to jointly adopt a
commute benefit ordinance that requires covered employers operating
within the common area of the 2 agencies with a specified number of
covered employees to offer those employees certain commute benefits
through a pilot program. Existing law requires that the ordinance
specify certain matters, including any consequences for
noncompliance, and imposes a specified reporting requirement.
Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2017.
This bill would extend these provisions indefinitely, thereby
establishing the pilot program permanently. The bill would also
delete bicycle commuting as a pretax option under the program and
instead would authorize a covered employer, at its discretion, to
offer commuting by bicycling as an employer-paid benefit in addition
to commuting via public transit or by vanpool. The bill would also
delete the reporting requirement.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 65081 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
65081. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
metropolitan planning organizations and local air quality management
districts or air pollution control districts to work with local
employers to adopt policies that encourage commuting by means other
than driving alone. To encourage this, the Legislature hereby
establishes a program in that regard in the greater San Francisco Bay
Area.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9 of the Health and Safety Code,
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission with respect to the common area within
their respective jurisdictions may jointly adopt a commute benefit
ordinance that requires covered employers operating within the common
area of the district and commission to offer all covered employees
one of the following choices:
(1) A pretax option: a program, consistent with Section 132(f) of
the Internal Revenue Code, allowing covered employees to elect to
exclude from taxable wages employee commuting costs incurred for
transit passes or vanpool charges, up to the maximum amount allowed
by federal tax law.
(2) Employer-paid benefit: a program whereby the covered employer
offers employees a subsidy to offset the monthly cost of commuting
via public transit or by vanpool, or, in addition, and at the
employer's discretion, by bicycle. The subsidy shall be equal to
either the monthly cost of commuting via public transit or by
vanpool, or seventy-five dollars ($75), whichever is lower. The
seventy-five dollar ($75) amount shall be adjusted annually
consistent with the California Consumer Price Index. If the covered
employer chooses to offer a subsidy to offset the monthly cost of
commuting by bicycle, the subsidy shall be either the monthly cost of
commuting by bicycle or twenty dollars ($20), whichever is lower.
(3) Employer-provided transit: transportation furnished by the
covered employer at no cost, or low cost as determined by the
district or commission, to the covered employee in a vanpool or bus,
or similar multipassenger vehicle operated by or for the employer.
(c) Nothing in this section shall prevent a covered employer from
offering a more generous commuter benefit that is otherwise
consistent with the requirements of the applicable commute benefit
ordinance. Nothing in this section shall require employees to change
their behavior.
(d) An employer offering, or proposing to offer, an alternative
commuter benefit on the employer's own initiative, or an employer
otherwise required to offer an alternative commuter benefit as a
condition of a lease, original building permit, or other similar
requirement, if the alternative is not one of the options identified
in subdivision (b), may seek approval of the alternative from the
district or commission. The district or commission may approve an
alternative if it determines that the alternative provides at least
the same benefit in terms of reducing single-occupant vehicle trips
as any of the options in subdivision (b). An employer that offers an
approved alternative to covered employees in a manner otherwise
consistent with this section is not required to offer one of the
options in subdivision (b).
(e) The commute benefit ordinance shall provide covered employers
with at least six months to comply after the ordinance is adopted.
(f) An employer that participates in or is represented by a
transportation management association that provides the employer's
covered employees with any of the benefits in subdivision (b), or an
alternative benefit determined by the district or commission pursuant
to subdivision (d) to provide at least the same benefit in terms of
reducing single-occupant vehicle trips as any of the options in
subdivision (b), shall be deemed in compliance with the regional
ordinance, and the transportation management association may act on
behalf of those employers in that regard. The district or commission
shall communicate directly with the transportation management
association, rather than the participating employers, to determine
compliance with the ordinance.
(g) A commute benefit ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
shall specify all of the following: (1) how the implementing agencies
will inform covered employers about the ordinance, (2) how
compliance with the ordinance will be demonstrated, (3) the
procedures for proposing and the criteria that will be used to
evaluate an alternative commuter benefit pursuant to subdivision (d),
and (4) any consequences for noncompliance.
(h) Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the statutory
or regulatory authority of the commission or district.
(i) The commission shall not use federal planning funds in the
implementation of the commute benefit ordinance.
(j) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Covered employer" means any employer for which an average of
50 or more employees per week perform work for compensation within
the area where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
operates. In determining the number of employees performing work for
an employer during a given week, only employees performing work on a
full-time basis shall be counted.
(2) "Covered employee" means an employee who performed at least an
average of 20 hours of work per week within the previous calendar
month within the area where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this
section operates.
(3) "District" means the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
(4) "Commission" means the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
