Bill Text: CA SB1134 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1134 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Vehicles: public transit buses: illuminated signs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-07-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 100, Statutes of 2014. [SB1134 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB1134-Amended.html

BILL NUMBER: SB 1134	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 6, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Knight

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2014

   An act to add and repeal Section 25353.2 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1134, as amended, Knight. Vehicles: public transit buses:
illuminated signs.
   Existing law authorizes a bus operated by a publicly owned transit
system on regularly scheduled service to be equipped with
illuminated signs that display information directly related to public
service and include, among other things, destination signs,
route-number signs, run-number signs, public service announcement
signs, or a combination of those signs, visible from any direction of
the vehicle, that emit any light color, other than the color red
emitted from forward-facing signs, pursuant to specified conditions.
   Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2017, a pilot program
that allows up to 25 buses operated by the City of Santa Monica's
publicly owned transit system for the first 2 years of the pilot
program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be equipped with
illuminated signs that display advertising subject to certain
conditions, including a display area of not greater than 4,464 square
inches.  Existing law also authorizes, until January 1, 2019,
the University of California, Irvine (university), to implement a
similar pilot program if the university determines, on or before
March 1, 2014, that the City of Santa Monica has less than 12 transit
buses equipped with illuminated signs that are operational pursuant
to the city's pilot program.  
   This bill would require the Antelope Valley Transit Authority on
or before March 1, 2015, if it elects to implement the pilot program
authorized by the bill, to determine whether the City of Santa Monica
has at least one transit bus equipped with illuminated signs that is
operational pursuant to the pilot program authorized under existing
law. If the Antelope Valley Transit Authority determines that the
City of Santa Monica does have such a transit bus, the bill would
prohibit the Antelope Valley Transit Authority from implementing the
bill's pilot program. If the Antelope Valley Transit Authority
determines that the City of Santa Monica does not have such a bus,
the Antelope Valley Transit Authority would be authorized to
implement the bill's pilot program.  
   The bill would authorize, until January 1, 2020, a pilot program
that would allow up to 25 buses operated by the Antelope Valley
Transit Authority's publicly owned transit system for the first 2
years of the pilot program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be
equipped with illuminated signs that display advertising subject to
certain conditions, including a display area of not greater than
4,464 square inches. 
    This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2020, the
Antelope Valley Transit Authority to implement a similar pilot
program if the authority determines, on or before March, 1, 2015,
that the university has less than 12 transit buses equipped with
illuminated signs that are operational pursuant to the university's
pilot program.  The bill would require the authority  , if
the pilot program is implemented,  to submit a specified report
to the Legislature and the Department of the California Highway
Patrol by July 1, 2019, on the incidence of adverse impacts, if any.
   The bill would make legislative findings and declarations
concerning the need for special legislation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 25353.2 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   25353.2.  (a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950, except as
provided in subdivision (c), a bus operated by the Antelope Valley
Transit Authority's publicly owned transit system, on regularly
scheduled service, in addition to the illuminated signs described in
Section 25353, may also be equipped with illuminated signs that
display advertising and that emit any light color, if all of the
following conditions are met:
   (1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall emit
diffused nonglaring light.
   (2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall be limited
in size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.
   (3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall not
resemble nor be installed in a position that interferes with the
visibility or effectiveness of a required lamp, reflector, or other
device upon the vehicle.
   (4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall only be
placed on one or both sides of the vehicle, and shall not be placed
in a forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one
sign shall be placed on either side of any single vehicle.
   (5) The mixing of individually colored light-emitting diode
elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
combination of light-emitting diode elements is not red.
   (b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be operated
as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode. However,
the electronic message sign display shall remain static while a bus
is operating on a freeway as defined in Section 257 of the Streets
and Highways Code.
   (2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
paragraph (1):
   (A) "Paging," meaning character elements or other information
presented for a period of time and then disappearing all at once
before the same or new elements are presented, is permitted if the
display time of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds. Blanking
times between each message shall be between 0.5 and 25 seconds.
   (B) "Streaming," meaning character elements or other information
moving smoothly and continuously across the display, is permitted if
the character movement time, from one end of the display to the
other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time of the entire
message does not exceed 10 seconds.
   (c) (1) On or before March 1, 2015, the Antelope Valley Transit
Authority, if it elects to implement a pilot program pursuant to this
section, shall determine whether the  City of Santa Monica
  University of California, Irvine,  has at least
 one   12  transit  bus 
 buses  equipped with illuminated signs that  is
  are  operational pursuant to Section 
25353.1.   25354. The Antelope Valley Transit Authority
may implement the pilot program authorized by this section only if it
determines that the University of California, Irvine, has less than
12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs that are operational
pursuant to Section 25354.  
   (2) If the Antelope Valley Transit Authority determines pursuant
to paragraph (1) that the City of Santa Monica has at least one
transit bus equipped with illuminated signs that is operational
pursuant to Section 25353.1, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority
shall not implement the pilot program authorized by this section.
 
   (3) If the Antelope Valley Transit Authority determines pursuant
to paragraph (1) that the City of Santa Monica does not have at least
one transit bus equipped with illuminated signs that is operational
pursuant to Section 25353.1, the Antelope Valley Transit Authority
may implement the pilot program authorized by this section. 

   (d)  On or before July 1, 2019,   If 
the Antelope Valley Transit Authority  implements the pilot
program pursuant to this section, it  shall  , by July 1,
2019,  submit to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code, and to the department, a report on the incidence of
adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the
utilization of illuminated signs on transit buses displaying
advertising pursuant to this section, if any. The report shall be the
product of a collaborative effort by Antelope Valley law enforcement
and transit officials, and other local law enforcement officials in
whose jurisdictions Antelope Valley transit vehicles operate.
   (e) The Antelope Valley Transit Authority's publicly owned transit
system may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25 buses with
illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years, after which
time the authority may increase the number of buses with the signs to
up to 30.
   (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because the Antelope Valley Transit Authority is facing an operating
revenue deficit in its public transit system and is evaluating
several strategies designed to enhance revenue over the next several
years, including the use of electronic illuminated signage that
displays advertising on local transit buses, which is not authorized
under state law. It is, therefore, declared that a statute of general
applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning of subdivision
(b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
Therefore, this special statute is necessary.