Bill Text: CA SB523 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Schoolbus replacement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB523 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB523-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 523 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator McGuire
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Section 9552 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to vehicles. An act to add Section 39719.4 to
the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases, and making
an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 523, as amended, McGuire. Vehicles: fees.
Schoolbus replacement.
Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties,
collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale
of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative
to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, commonly known as cap and
trade revenues, to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
and to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified
purposes. Existing law provides various programs to fund the
acquisition of schoolbuses.
This bill would create the Schoolbus Replacement for Small and
Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program, and would appropriate $5
million annually from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the State
Department of Education for the program. The program would be
administered by the department in conjunction with the State Air
Resources Board, and would provide schoolbus replacement grants to
school districts or county offices of education with an average daily
attendance of less than 2,501 and with more than 50% of the pupil
population qualifying for free or reduced-rate lunch programs, and to
certain other eligible applicants. The bill would impose various
requirements in that regard. The bill would also make legislative
findings and declarations.
Under existing law, fees required by the Vehicle Code are
delinquent when a vehicle is operated on a highway without those fees
first having been paid and when those fees have not been paid within
20 days of the vehicle's first operation, subject to specified
exceptions.
This bill would increase that amount of time to 30 days.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) The Legislature has previously provided funding for
replacement of polluting and aged schoolbuses in small and
disadvantaged communities.
(b) Schoolbus replacement programs currently exist in the Bay Area
and the Los Angeles Basin. For example, the Lower-Emission School
Bus Program is a partnership between the State Air Resources Board
and air districts, and is administered by the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District in the Bay Area. The goals of that program are to
reduce the exposure of schoolchildren to harmful emissions of
particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and nonmethane hydrocarbons,
which contribute to summertime smog.
(c) Air districts currently evaluate qualified projects in
disproportionately impacted communities, according to regional
poverty level, particulate matter exposure, toxic exposure, and
disproportionate impact mapping that works to promote schoolbus
replacement in densely populated areas.
(d) It is also necessary to provide funding for schoolbus
replacement in less populated areas with disadvantaged communities.
SEC. 2. Section 39719.4 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
39719.4. (a) The Schoolbus Replacement for Small and
Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program is hereby created, to be
administered by the State Department of Education in conjunction with
the state board. Commencing in the 2015-16 fiscal year, the sum of
five million dollars ($5,000,000) annually is hereby appropriated
from the fund to the department to fund the purchase of new
schoolbuses to replace existing schoolbuses by applicants eligible
under this section. Funds made available under the program shall be
used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state in accordance
with Section 39712.
(b) (1) A school district or county office of education with an
average daily attendance of less than 2,501, with more than 50
percent of the pupil population qualifying for free or reduced-price
lunch programs, shall be eligible to apply to the department for a
grant under this section.
(2) A school district or county office of education meeting the
requirements of paragraph (1) and providing pupil transportation
services through a cooperative, consortium, or joint powers
agreement, shall be an eligible applicant under the program.
(3) The Division of State Special Schools of the State Department
of Education shall also be an eligible applicant under the program.
(c) The State Department of Education shall develop priority
categories for funds available under this section based solely on
vehicle age and accumulated mileage. An eligible applicant shall
submit, as evidence of the condition of the vehicle to be replaced,
the most recent inspection report of the Department of the California
Highway Patrol, a repair estimate made by an independent repair
shop, and any other information requested by the department.
(d) The State Department of Education shall estimate the cost of a
replacement schoolbus of the same capacity as the schoolbus being
replaced. Program funds made available to an applicant for a
schoolbus may not exceed that estimated cost. However, an applicant
may use other funds available to the applicant to purchase a
schoolbus that is more expensive than the model used by the
department to make its cost estimate.
(e) A schoolbus purchased with funds made available by this
section shall meet the requirements of federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 222.
(f) (1) A schoolbus that has been disposed of is not eligible for
replacement under the program.
(2) For an eligible applicant with fewer than three schoolbuses, a
schoolbus shall be considered disposed of for the purposes of
replacement if it is designated as a temporary schoolbus. A temporary
schoolbus is a schoolbus that has annual mileage of no more than 10
percent of the total average annual mileage of all nontemporary
schoolbuses of that applicant measured over the prior five years.
(3) After a schoolbus is designated as a temporary schoolbus, it
may only be used as a schoolbus if it is in compliance with all
applicable provisions of the Vehicle Code and associated regulations.
(g) Schoolbus purchases with funds made available under the
program shall be made by the Department of General Services, to the
extent practicable. The title to a schoolbus purchased by the
Department of General Services shall be in the name of the applicant
for which the schoolbus was purchased.
(h) Funds shall be made available for schoolbuses used in special
education in a proportion to total funding not less than the
proportion of special education schoolbuses to the total number of
schoolbuses in the state, as determined by the State Department of
Education. The department may adopt regulations to implement this
section in an equitable manner.
SECTION 1. Section 9552 of the Vehicle Code is
amended to read:
9552. (a) When a vehicle is operated on a highway of this state
without the fees first having been paid as required by this code, and
those fees have not been paid within 30 days of its first operation,
those fees are delinquent, except as provided in subdivision (b).
(b) Fees are delinquent when an application for renewal of
registration, or an application for renewal of special license
plates, is made after midnight of the expiration date of the
registration or special plates, or 60 days after the date the
registered owner is notified by the department pursuant to Section
1661, whichever is later.
(c) When a person has received as transferee a properly endorsed
certificate of ownership and the transfer fee has not been paid as
required by this code within 10 days, the fee is delinquent.
(d) When a person becomes an automobile dismantler, dealer,
manufacturer, manufacturer branch, distributor, distributor branch,
or transporter without first having paid the license and special
plate fees as required by this code, the fees are delinquent.
