BILL NUMBER: AB 1706 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eng
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 35554 of, and to
add and repeal Section 35554.1 of, and to repeal and
add Section 35554 of, the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1706, as amended, Eng. Vehicles: transit bus weight.
(1) Under existing law, the gross weight imposed upon the highway
by the wheels on any one axle of a vehicle is prohibited from
exceeding 18,000 pounds, except the gross weight on any one axle of a
bus is prohibited from exceeding 20,500 pounds. A violation of these
requirements is a crime.
This bill would repeal that weight exception for buses on
January 1, 2016. The bill would instead exempt a transit
bus from the limits on the weight that may be imposed upon the
highway by the wheel of any one axle, until January 1, 2016, and as
of that date, the bill would repeal that exemption for transit buses
and reinstate the existing prohibition of 20,500 pounds for any one
axle of a bus. The bill would , commencing January 1,
2013, and until January 1, 2016, prohibit a publicly owned or
operated transit system or an operator of a transit system under
contract with a publicly owned or operated transit system from
procuring through a solicitation process pursuant to which a
solicitation is issued on or after January 1, 2013, a new
transit bus whose gross weight exceeds the gross weight of
the heaviest transit bus in the system's existing bus inventory, for
that transit bus' fleet class as of December 31, 2012, except as
specified 22,400 pounds . The bill
would repeal this prohibition on January 1, 2016. The bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new
requirements upon buses that are not transit
buses.
The bill would require the Secretary of the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency to convene a task force for the
purpose of preparing a report concerning the maximum axle weight
limitations in federal and state statutes applicable to transit
buses. The bill would specify the information, analyses, and
recommendations to be included in the report and would require the
report to be submitted by January 1, 2015, to the appropriate Senate
and Assembly Committees of the Legislature that oversee
transportation issues. The bill would appropriate an unspecified
amount from the Public Transportation Account and an unspecified
amount from the State Highway Account to the secretary to prepare the
report.
The bill would appropriate an unspecified amount from the Public
Transportation Account and an unspecified amount from the State
Highway Account to the secretary to prepare the report.
The bill would repeal this provision these
provisions on January 1, 2020 2019
.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Fully funded, efficient, and effective public transit systems
operating in a balanced transportation network do all of the
following:
(1) Support California's growing economy by moving people to
their jobs and to educational sites, by providing well-paying and
stable jobs, and by enhancing the value of surrounding real estate.
(2) Bolster the state's energy security by decreasing dependence
on imported oil.
(3) Contribute to California's greenhouse gas reduction and air
quality improvement goals.
(4) Save travelers time by mitigating traffic congestion as the
state's population grows.
(5) Afford the safest means of motorized travel.
(6) Promote equitable access to affordable, reliable, and safe
transportation for all Californians.
(b) The state should therefore support the continued building,
maintenance, and operation of effective local and regional public
transportation networks for, including, but not limited to, the
following additional reasons:
(1) Every one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) invested in
transportation infrastructure creates 47,500 jobs.
(2) Every one dollar ($1) invested in public transportation
generates approximately six dollars ($6) in local economic activity.
(3) Real estate, including residential, commercial, and business,
that is served by public transit is valued more highly by the public
than similar properties not as well-served by transit. For example,
in the County of San Diego, residential properties for sale near
commuter rail stops were valued 17 percent higher than properties for
sale not near commuter rail stops.
(4) California oil production has steadily decreased since its
peak in the 1980s, which has resulted in an increased need for
imported oil. In 2006, California imported 55 percent, 328 of 593
million barrels of the oil that it consumed. If the cost of oil is
calculated at ninety dollars ($90) per barrel, this level of
importation of oil results in twenty-nine billion five hundred
million dollars ($29,500,000,000) annually leaving the state. Public
transit in California currently reduces the need to import oil by
creating savings of 486 million gallons of oil annually.
(5) Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) in
high concentrations create dangerous air quality conditions that
cause at least 6,500 premature deaths, 9,000 hospitalizations, and
1,700,000 cases of respiratory illness annually in California. Public
transportation reduces carbon monoxide (CO) by 95 percent, VOCs by
90 percent, and NOx by 50 percent, per passenger mile, compared to
driving a private vehicle.
(6) To meet requirements set out by Assembly Bill 32 of the 2006
Regular Session of the Legislature that enacted the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with
Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), and Executive Order
S-3-05, California will have to reduce its per capita emissions from
13 metric tons to 9.5 metric tons by 2020 and 2 metric tons by 2050.
By taking existing public transportation instead of driving a car, a
single person can save 2.1 metric tons, or 4,800 pounds, of carbon
dioxide (CO2 ) per year.
(7) In the next 10 years, the California population is expected to
grow by over four million people, mostly in urban centers. This will
lead to more time wasted in traffic congestion. In 2005, public
transit prevented 540.8 million hours of traffic delay around the
country, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. The
monetary value of those savings was ten billion two hundred million
dollars ($10,200,000,000).
(8) Those traveling by personal vehicles or in trucks suffer much
higher fatality rates than those traveling by public transit. The
National Transportation Safety Board reports that 32,841 fatalities
occurred during the 2010 calendar year on the nation's highways
related to personal vehicle or truck use, but in the same year, only
44 fatalities were recorded related to public transit bus use.
(9) By 2025, an estimated one in five Californians will be over 65
years of age. Public transportation is already playing an important
role for this demographic group, 20 percent of which does not drive.
(10) Californians recognize the benefits of public transportation
and are responding with increased demand. Transit ridership is
growing and particularly increases when the price of gasoline
increases.
(c) However, as public transit ridership has increased, concerns
arise about the long-term sustainability of the transportation
network built to support cars, trucks, and buses. The increased
frequency of transit bus use disproportionately damages city streets,
county roads, and the state's highway and interstate systems, due to
the pavement wear impact of heavy transit vehicles relative to other
types of vehicles, as evidenced by all of the following:
(c) However, as public transit ridership has increased, concerns
arise about the long-term sustainability of the transportation
network built to support cars, trucks, and buses, namely, that the
increased frequency of transit bus use disproportionately damages
city streets, county roads, and the state's highway and interstate
systems, due to the pavement wear impact of heavy transit vehicles
relative to other types of vehicles, as evidenced by the following:
(1) In 2002, the United States Congress directed the preparation
by the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation of
a study on the federal and state maximum axle weight limitations
applicable to vehicles using the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System
of Interstate and Defense Highways, as the limitations apply to
over-the-road buses and public transit vehicles. The study's purpose
was to determinate how the requirements of the federal limitation on
vehicle axle weights should be applied to over-the-road buses and
public transit vehicles, and, in making those recommendations, to
consider all of the following factors:
(A) Vehicle design standards.
(B) Statutory and regulatory requirements, including the federal
Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.) and the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.) as
amended.
(C) Motor vehicle safety standards prescribed under Chapter 301 of
Title 49 of the United States Code (49 U.S.C. Sec. 30101 et seq.).
(D) The availability of lightweight materials suitable for use in
the manufacture of over-the-road buses.
(E) The cost of those lightweight materials relative to the cost
of heavier materials in use as of the date of the determination.
(F) Any safety or design considerations relating to the use of
those materials.
(2) The report specified in paragraph (1) also included an
analysis of, and recommendations concerning, all of the following:
(A) The means to be considered to encourage the development and
manufacture of lightweight buses.
(B) An analysis of, and recommendations concerning, whether
Congress should require that each rulemaking by an agency of the
federal government that affects the design or manufacture of motor
vehicles consider the weight that would be added to the vehicle by
implementation of the proposed rule.
(C) The effect that the added weight would have on pavement wear.
(D) The resulting cost to the federal government and state and
local governments.
(3) In 2005, federal law was amended to temporarily provide an
exemption from the federal vehicle weight limitations for transit
vehicles on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways (the Interstate System), and to prohibit
specified states, including California, or any political subdivision
of those states, from enforcing a transit vehicle weight limit of
less than 24,000 pounds on the Interstate System. That exemption and
prohibition are in place until June 30, 2012.
(d) The Vehicle Code currently places a restriction on the gross
weight imposed upon the highway by the wheels of any one axle of a
bus, which cannot exceed 20,500 pounds. However, that restriction was
created in 1976, and, is only 500 pounds heavier than the
restriction generally placed on any other type of vehicle operating
on the highways. In the case of vehicle axle weights, the term
"highway" is interpreted to include city streets and county roads.
(e) The federal study specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision
(c) referenced several reasons why public transit buses have become
heavier over the years, particularly in the more than three decades
since California first imposed a specific axle weight limitation on
buses, as follows:
(1) Requirements placed on bus manufacturers, as well as on
providers of local public transit service, to comply with new federal
and state laws and regulations.
(2) Heavier fuel tanks to safely contain alternative fuels such as
natural gas that are necessary to meet air quality standards and
engine emissions standards imposed on buses.
(3) Wheelchair lifts and other safety equipment necessary to
transport disabled passengers pursuant to the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.), as amended.
(f) Some local law enforcement agencies have begun to cite some
operators of public transportation services for operating transit
vehicles in excess of the California axle weight limitations for
buses, thus threatening disruption of efficient and effective public
transit service that otherwise complies with all applicable federal
and state laws and regulations, including those laws and regulations
that have compelled operation of heavier transit buses.
(g) Therefore, it is vital the state act immediately to clarify
that the public transit vehicles currently operating in California
are permitted to continue in transit service without disruption due
to the state's outdated transit bus weight limitation, while a study
is prepared analyzing all of the following:
(1) The appropriate transit bus axle weight limitations to reflect
current federal and state laws affecting vehicle manufacture.
(2) The availability of, and the ability of manufacturers to
utilize, lighter-weight materials in the manufacture and integration
of transit buses.
(3) Other alternative strategies to ensure the long-term
sustainability of the transportation network, including the
Interstate System, state highways, local streets and roads, and
public transit systems.
(4) A comparison of the costs of maintaining the status quo versus
the potential cost to state and local governments of adopting new
vehicle axle weight standards for transit buses.
(5) Requiring the use of lighter-weight materials in the
manufacture and integration of buses.
(6) Alternative strategies for ensuring the sustainability of the
transportation network.
SEC. 2. Section 35554 of the Vehicle Code is
repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 35554 is added to the Vehicle
Code, to read:
35554. (a) A transit bus is not subject to Section 35550.
(b) (1) For purposes of this subdivision "fleet class" means a
group of transit buses designated by a publicly owned or operated
transit system or an operator under contract with a publicly owned or
operated transit system that owns those transit buses, if the
transit buses have a combination of two or more of the following
similar defining characteristics:
(A) Length.
(B) Seating capacity.
(C) Number of axles.
(D) Fuel or power system.
(E) Width.
(F) Structure.
(G) Equipment package.
(2) A publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator of
a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued after January 1, 2013, a
new transit bus whose gross weight exceeds the gross weight of the
heaviest transit bus in the system's existing bus inventory, for that
transit bus' fleet class as of December 31, 2012.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not prohibit a publicly owned or operated
transit system or an operator of a transit system under contract with
a publicly owned or operated transit system from incorporating a new
fleet class into its inventory if the governing board of the
publicly owned or operated transit system, or the governing board of
the publicly owned or operated transit system that has entered into
the contract with the operator, adopts a finding at a public hearing
that the fleet class expansion or change in fleet classes is
necessary to address a need to serve a new or existing market, or to
meet a federal, state, or regional statutory or regulatory
requirement, and includes a consideration of vehicle needs and fleet
size.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 2. Section 35554 of the Vehicle
Code is amended to read:
35554. (a) Notwithstanding Section 35550,
the gross weight on any one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500
pounds.
(b) A transit bus is not subject to subdivision (a).
(c) A transit bus is not subject to Section 35550.
(d) (1) A publicly owed or operated transit system or an operator
of a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1,
2013, a new transit bus whose gross weight on any one axle exceeds
22,400 pounds.
(2) This subdivision shall not apply to any solicitation that has
been issued prior to or is pending as of January 1, 2013.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. Section 35554 is
added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
35554. (a) Notwithstanding Section 35550, the gross weight on any
one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500 pounds.
(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2016.
SEC. 5. SEC. 4. Section 35554.1 is
added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
35554.1. (a) For purposes of this section, "secretary" means the
Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
(b) The secretary shall convene a task force to oversee the
preparation of a report concerning the maximum axle weight
limitations in federal and state statutes applicable to transit buses
using the highways, streets, and roads of the state and to transit
buses using the portions in the state of the Dwight D. Eisenhower
National System of Interstate and Defense Highways subject to Section
127 of Title 23 of the United States Code, and to recommend
strategies relative to measuring and enforcing transit bus weight
limits, designing and manufacturing transit buses, and updating and
utilizing the most effective and efficient pavement design standards
when designing and constructing highways and streets and roads, to
ensure the sustainability of the state's transportation network of
highways, streets, roads, and public transit systems.
(c) The task force shall consist of all of the following:
(1) Two representatives of public transportation systems, as
determined by the California Transit Association.
(2) Two representatives of bus manufacturers, bus component
integrators, or bus component manufacturers, as determined by the
California Transit Association.
(3) Three representatives of cities, as determined by the League
of California Cities.
(4) One representative of counties, as determined by the
California State Association of Counties.
(5) A representative of the Department of Transportation.
(6) A representative of the Department of the California Highway
Patrol.
(d) The report shall include all of the following:
(1) A determination concerning any changes that should be made to
the requirements of Section 35554, as that section read on January 1,
2012, regarding the application of axle weight limits to transit
buses.
(2) An analysis of the applicability of the weight restrictions in
Section 35554, as that section read on January 1, 2012, compared to
the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations that
affect the weight of transit buses.
(3) Recommendations relative to updating the pavement design
standards utilized by the Department of Transportation in designing
and constructing highways and by local governments in designing and
constructing streets and roads, given the necessity of maintaining a
sustainable transportation network that includes the provision of
adequate public transportation service by bus, and the requirements
of federal and state laws and regulations that affect the weight of
transit buses.
(4) An analysis of, and recommendations concerning, whether the
Legislature should require that each state agency that adopts
regulations that affect the design or manufacture of motor vehicles
consider all of the following:
(A) The weight that would be added to the vehicle by
implementation of the proposed regulation.
(B) The effect that the added weight would have on pavement wear.
(C) The resulting cost to the state and local governments.
(5) An analysis relating to the axle weight of transit buses that
compares the costs of the pavement wear caused by transit buses with
the costs of the pavement wear caused by other vehicles, including
trucks or vehicles such as municipal garbage trucks or fire engines.
(e) In preparing the report required by this section, the
secretary shall consider all of the following:
(1) Vehicle design standards, including those relating to
durability and corrosion, and the typical operating environments of
transit vehicles.
(2) Statutory and regulatory requirements, including the federal
Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.), the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.), as
amended, and the transit bus engine emission regulations and
standards adopted by the State Air Resources Board and by individual
air quality management districts.
(3) Federal motor vehicle safety standards prescribed under
Chapter 301 of Title 49 of the United States Code (49 U.S.C. Sec.
30101 et seq.).
(4) The availability of lightweight materials suitable for use in
the manufacture of transit buses, the cost of those lightweight
materials relative to the cost of heavier materials in use as of the
date of the determination, and any safety or design considerations
relating to the use of those materials.
(5) The necessity of vehicle amenities that are attractive to
existing or prospective transit passengers.
(6) Any available information pertaining to the means to encourage
the development and manufacture of lightweight transit buses.
(7) Any other pertinent data in the report by the Secretary of the
United States Department of Transportation entitled Study & Report
to Congress: Applicability of Maximum Axle Weight Limitations to
Over-the-Road and Public Transit Buses Pursuant to Senate Report No.
107-38, dated December 2003.
(8) The latest interpretation by the Federal Transit
Administration and by the Federal Highway Administration of the
applicability of Section 127 of Title 23 of the United States Code as
it pertains to enforcement in California of federal limitations on
transit bus weight.
(f) The secretary shall submit this report to the appropriate
Senate and Assembly Committees of the Legislature that oversee
transportation issues on or before January 1, 2015. The report shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(g) Both of the following amounts are hereby appropriated to the
secretary from the following sources for purposes of preparing the
report required by this section:
(1) ____ dollars ____ is hereby appropriated from the Public
Transportation Account.
(2) ____ dollars ____ is hereby appropriated from the State
Highway Account from the truck weight fee revenue derived from
Section 9400.
(h) This section is repealed on January 1, 2019, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 6. SEC. 5. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.