Bill Text: CA AB3060 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Pupil transportation: transportation network companies: Public Utilities Commission: safety standards: exemptions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-05 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB3060 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB3060-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 3060
| Introduced by Assembly Member Lackey |
February 16, 2024 |
An act to add and repeal Section 39876 of the Education Code, and to amend Section 5353 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to pupil transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 3060, as introduced, Lackey.
Pupil transportation: transportation network companies: Public Utilities Commission: safety standards: exemptions.
The Passenger Charter-party Carriers’ Act provides for regulation of charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission, subject to specific exclusions, including the transportation of school pupils conducted by or under contract with the governing board of any school district, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of the act is a crime.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to regulate transportation network companies, as provided.
This bill would explicitly state that the Passenger Charter-party Carriers’ Act applies to transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a local educational agency, and would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to regulate transportation network companies that serve
unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a local educational agency. By expanding the application of the Passenger Charter-party Carriers’ Act, the bill would expand a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program.
Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, imposes various requirements upon a driver who provides school-related pupil transportation for compensation and is employed by a local educational agency, contracted by a local educational agency, or contracted by any entity with funding from a local educational agency, including, among others, requirements related to criminal background checks, possession of a satisfactory driving record, compliance with drug and alcohol testing, training, and maintenance of a daily log sheet, as provided. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, requires a local educational agency contracting with a private entity to provide pupil transportation to obtain from the private entity a written attestation that,
among other things, only drivers who meet those requirements work, or will work, under the contract between the private entity and local educational agency, as provided.
This bill would exempt from the above-described requirements, until July 1, 2027, a contract to provide transportation services for pupils between (1) a local educational agency and (2) a transportation network company that complies with specified safety standards for transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors adopted by the Public Utilities Commission, as provided. The bill would also exempt from the above-described requirements, until July 1, 2027, a driver who provides transportation services for pupils pursuant to that contract, as provided. The bill would require, as a condition of that exemption, the transportation network company to be able to fulfill requests for transportation services for pupils within as few as 24 hours of receiving notification from the local
educational agency pursuant to that contract, as provided.
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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 39876 is added to the Education Code, to read:39876.
(a) For purposes of this section, “transportation network company” has the same meaning as that term is defined in subdivision (c) of Section 5431 of the Public Utilities Code.(b) The requirements of this article shall not apply to either of the following:
(1) A contract to provide transportation services for pupils, consistent with subdivision (c), between a local educational agency and a transportation network company that (A) operates under the authority of the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with section 5430) of Chapter 8 of Division 2 of the Public Utilities Code governing transportation network companies, and (B) complies with the heightened
safety standards for transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors, adopted pursuant to that authority, and possesses a related TNC-K permit designation.
(2) A driver who provides transportation services for pupils pursuant to a contract described in paragraph (1).
(c) (1) As a condition of the exemption from this article described in subdivision (b), a transportation network company shall be able to fulfill requests for transportation services for pupils within as few as 24 hours of receiving notification from the local educational agency pursuant to a contract described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
(2) Those transportation network companies described in paragraph (1) shall qualify for the exemption described in subdivision (b) for all transportation services
provided for pupils pursuant to a contract described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), including those requested by a local educational agency more than 24 hours in advance.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2027, and, as of January 1, 2028, is repealed.
SEC. 2.
Section 5353 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:5353.
This chapter does not apply to any of the following:(a) Transportation service rendered wholly within the corporate limits of a single city or city and county and licensed or regulated by ordinance.
(b) (1) Transportation of school pupils conducted by or under contract with the governing board of any school district entered into pursuant to the Education Code.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), this chapter does apply to, and the commission may regulate, transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a local educational agency.
(c) Common carrier transportation services between fixed termini or over a regular route that are subject to authorization pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 1031) of Chapter 5 of Part 1 of Division 1.
(d) Transportation services occasionally afforded for farm employees moving to and from farms on which employed when the transportation is performed by the employer in an owned or leased vehicle, or by a nonprofit agricultural cooperative association organized and acting within the scope of its powers under Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 54001) of Division 20 of
the Food and Agricultural Code, and without any requirement for the payment of compensation therefor by the employees.
(e) Transportation service rendered by a publicly owned transit system.
(f) Passenger vehicles carrying passengers on a noncommercial enterprise basis.
(g) Taxicab transportation service licensed and regulated by a city or county, by ordinance or resolution, rendered in vehicles designed for carrying not more than eight persons excluding the driver.
(h) Transportation of persons between home and work locations or of persons having a common work-related trip purpose in a vehicle having a seating capacity of 15 passengers or less, including the driver, which are used for the purpose of ridesharing, as defined in Section 522 of the Vehicle
Code, when the ridesharing is incidental to another purpose of the driver. This exemption also applies to a vehicle having a seating capacity of more than 15 passengers if the driver files with the commission evidence of liability insurance protection in the same amount and in the same manner as required for a passenger stage corporation, and the vehicle undergoes and passes an annual safety inspection by the Department of the California Highway Patrol. The insurance filing shall be accompanied by a one-time filing fee of seventy-five dollars ($75). This exemption does not apply if the primary purpose for the transportation of those persons is to make a profit. “Profit,” as used in this subdivision, does not include the recovery of the actual costs incurred in owning and operating a vanpool vehicle, as defined in Section 668 of the Vehicle Code.
(i) Vehicles used exclusively to provide medical transportation, including vehicles employed to
transport developmentally disabled persons for regional centers established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 4620) of Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(j) Transportation services rendered solely within the Lake Tahoe Basin, comprising that area included within the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact as set forth in Section 66801 of the Government Code, when the operator of the services has obtained any permit required from the Tahoe Basin Transportation Authority or the City of South Lake Tahoe, or both.
(k) Subject to Section 34507.6 of the Vehicle Code, transportation service provided by the operator of an automobile rental business in vehicles owned or leased by that operator, without charge other than as may be included in the automobile rental charges, to carry its customers to or from its office or facility where rental vehicles are furnished or
returned after the rental period.
(l) Subject to Section 34507.6 of the Vehicle Code, transportation service provided by the operator of a hotel, motel, or other place of temporary lodging in vehicles owned or leased by that operator, without charge other than as may be included in the charges for lodging, between the lodging facility and an air, rail, water, or bus passenger terminal or between the lodging facility and any place of entertainment or commercial attraction, including, but not limited to, facilities providing snow skiing. Nothing in this subdivision authorizes the operator of a hotel, motel, or other place of temporary lodging to provide any round trip sightseeing service without a permit, as required by subdivision (c) of Section 5384.
(m) (1) Transportation of hot air balloon ride passengers in a balloon chase vehicle from the balloon
landing site back to the original takeoff site, provided that the balloon ride was conducted by a balloonist who meets all of the following conditions:
(A) Does not fly more than a total of 30 passenger rides for compensation annually.
(B) Does not provide any preflight ground transportation services in their vehicles.
(C) In providing return transportation to the launch site from landing does not drive more than 300 miles annually.
(D) Files with the commission an exemption declaration and proof of vehicle insurance, as prescribed by the commission, certifying that the operator qualifies for the exemption and will maintain minimum insurance on each vehicle of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for injury or death of one person, three hundred
thousand dollars ($300,000) for injury or death of two or more persons and one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for damage to property.
(2) Nothing in this subdivision authorizes the operator of a commercial balloon operation to provide any round trip sightseeing service without a permit, as required by subdivision (c) of Section 5384.
(n) (1) Transportation services incidental to operation of a youth camp that are provided by either a nonprofit organization that qualifies for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or an organization that operates an organized camp, as defined in Section 18897 of the Health and Safety Code, serving youth 18 years of age or younger.
(2) Any transportation service described in paragraph (1) shall comply with all of the following
requirements:
(A) Register as a private carrier with the commission pursuant to Section 4005.
(B) Participate in a pull notice system for employers of drivers as prescribed in Section 1808.1 of the Vehicle Code.
(C) Ensure compliance with the annual bus terminal inspection required by subdivision (c) of Section 34501 of the Vehicle Code.
(D) Obtain the following minimum amounts of general liability insurance coverage for vehicles that are used to transport youth:
(i) A minimum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) general liability insurance coverage for passenger vehicles designed to carry up to eight passengers. For organized camps, as defined in Section 18897 of the Health and
Safety Code, an additional two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) general umbrella policy that covers vehicles.
(ii) A minimum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) general liability insurance coverage for vehicles designed to carry up to 15 passengers. For organized camps, as defined in Section 18897 of the Health and Safety Code, an additional five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) general umbrella policy that covers vehicles.
(iii) A minimum of one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) general liability insurance coverage for vehicles designed to carry more than 15 passengers, and an additional three million five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000) general umbrella liability insurance policy that covers vehicles.
