Bill Text: CA AB91 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: High-occupancy vehicle lanes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-18 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 468, Statutes of 2018. [AB91 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB91-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  June 20, 2017

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 30, 2017

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 22, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 91

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Introduced by Assembly Member Cervantes
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia)
(Coauthor: Senator Roth)

January 09, 2017

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An act to add and repeal Section 149.2 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 91, as amended, Cervantes. High-occupancy vehicle lanes.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to designate certain lanes for the exclusive or preferential use of high-occupancy vehicles. When those exclusive or preferential use lanes are established and double parallel solid lines are in place to the right thereof, existing law prohibits any person driving a vehicle from crossing over those double lines to enter into or exit from the lanes, and entrance or exit from those lanes is authorized only in areas designated for these purposes or where a single broken line is in place to the right of the lanes, except as specified.

This bill would prohibit, commencing July 1, 2018, a high-occupancy vehicle lane from being established in the County of Riverside, unless that lane is established as a high-occupancy vehicle lane only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic, as determined by the department. The bill would require any existing high-occupancy vehicle lane in the County of Riverside that is not a toll lane to be modified to operate as a high-occupancy lane under those same conditions. The bill would provide that these provisions apply only if the department, with the concurrence of the Riverside County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Association of Governments, determines that compliance with those provisions does not result in federal financial penalties, disqualification from future funding, or certain costs to local or regional governments. The bill would authorize the department, on or after May 1, 2019, to reinstate 24-hour high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the County of Riverside if the department makes a specified determination, and would require the department to report to the Legislature on the impact on traffic of limiting the use of high-occupancy lanes only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic, as provided in the bill.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 149.2 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read:

149.2.

 (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, except as provided in paragraph (3) and subdivision (c), a high-occupancy vehicle lane shall not be established in the County of Riverside, unless the lane is established as a high-occupancy vehicle lane only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic, as determined by the department.

(2) Any existing high-occupancy vehicle lane located in the County of Riverside that is not a toll lane shall be modified to operate as a high-occupancy vehicle lane only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic, as determined by the department.

(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) apply only if the department, with the concurrence of the Riverside County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Association of Governments, determines that compliance with paragraphs (1) and (2) will not result in either of the following:

(A) Federal financial penalties or disqualification from future funding.

(B) Costs to local or regional governments to supply replacement transportation control measures in the Federal Transportation Improvement Program prepared pursuant to Section 134 of Title 23 of the United States Code.

(b) (1) The department shall report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, on or before January 1, 2020, on the impact on traffic of limiting the use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic as provided in subdivision (a).

(2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under paragraph (1) is inoperative on January 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(c) On or after May 1, 2019, if the department determines that there is an adverse impact on safety, traffic conditions, or the environment by limiting the use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic as provided in subdivision (a), the department may submit to the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing a notice of that determination and of the intent to reinstate 24-hour high-occupancy vehicle lanes. The department thereafter may reinstate 24-hour high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

(d) Nothing in this section prevents the department or the Riverside County Transportation Commission from developing and operating a high-occupancy toll facility or prevents the commission from approving an application to develop and operate a toll facility pursuant to Section 149.7.

(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2018.

(f) This section shall become inoperative 60 days after the date the Legislature receives the notice described in subdivision (c) and is repealed on January 1 thereafter. The department shall post the date that the Legislature receives this notice on the department’s Internet Web site.