CA SB 128

Description

Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to submit and prepare and submit to the Governor a proposed budget. To align the annual budget with the adopted state transportation improvement program, existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to submit to the Department of Finance a revised capital outlay support and capital outlay budget estimates as part of its May Revision process. This bill would authorize the Department of Finance to increase or decrease funding appropriated to the Department of Transportation's capital outlay support program using funding made available to the program from both the annual Budget Act and any other appropriation provided the combined adjustments total $0, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to authorize the adjustments not sooner than 30 days after the notification in writing of the necessity therefor to the chairpersons of specified legislative committees. Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish contracts for electronic programs that allow qualified private industry partners to provide services that include processing and payment programs for vehicle registration and titling transactions. Existing law requires the department to charge private industry partners a $1 transaction fee for the implementation of their proportionate share of departmentwide system improvements until the director determines that sufficient funds have been received to pay for the improvements, or on December 31, 2023, whichever occurs first. This bill would reimplement the transaction fee described above commencing July 1, 2025, until the director determines that sufficient funds have been received to pay for the improvements, or on December 31, 2028, whichever occurs first. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to require an examination for issuance of a driver's license. The examination is required to be appropriate to the type of motor vehicle or combination of vehicles the applicant desires a license to drive or tow, in accordance with certain license classifications. A class C driver's license includes the operation of, among other vehicles, a 2-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing either a trailer coach or a 5th-wheel travel trailer not exceeding 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation. If the towed 5th-wheel trailer exceeds 10,000 pounds, but is less than 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, and towing is not for compensation, existing law requires the holder of a class C driver's license to also pass a specialized written examination. Existing law, commencing on January 1, 2027, instead permits a class C driver's licenseholder to operate a vehicle when towing a trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight if specified conditions are met, including the towing is not for compensation or commercial purposes, the trailer is used exclusively for recreational purposes, and the person has passed a specialized written examination. Existing law also, commencing on January 1, 2027, includes within a class C driver's license the operation of a vehicle when towing a 5th-wheel travel trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight when the towing is not for compensation and the licenseholder has passed a specialized written examination. This bill would instead make those provisions operative on January 1, 2029. Beginning January 1, 2027, existing law requires an electronic application for an original or renewal driver's license or identification card to contain a solicitation for the applicant to enroll in the National Marrow Donor Program's (NMDP) registry as a bone marrow or blood stem cell donor, and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to electronically transmit specified applicant information weekly to the NMDP. This bill would delete that operative date and would instead require the department to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the NMDP to mutually agree on the operative date for the above-described requirements. Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway or aiding or abetting in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on any highway. Upon conviction, existing law punishes a person by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 90 days, by a fine of not more than $500, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, additionally authorizes the court to order the privilege to operate a motor vehicle suspended for 90 days to 6 months and restricts the person's operation of a motor vehicle for the purposes of their employment, as specified. Existing law requires the court to consider a person's hardships, as specified, when deciding to either suspend or restrict a driver's license. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend or restrict a driver's license as ordered by the court. This bill would delay the commencement of the court's additional authority to restrict or suspend a driver's license, as described above, from July 1, 2025, to January 1, 2029, and make conforming changes. Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and local authorities to designate certain highway lanes for the exclusive or preferential use of high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) , requires the department or local authorities to place signage advising motorists of the rules governing the use of those lanes, and prohibits the use of those lanes by motorists other than in conformity with the posted rules. Existing federal law requires a public authority that has jurisdiction over an HOV lane to require a vehicle using the lane to have no fewer than 2 occupants. Existing federal law provides certain exceptions to this requirement, including motorcycles, public transportation vehicles, blood transport vehicles, and, until September 30, 2025, specified alternative fuel and electric vehicles. Existing state law authorizes motorcycles, mass transit vehicles, blood transport vehicles, paratransit vehicles, and, until September 30, 2025, specified alternative fuel and electric vehicles to use HOV lanes regardless of occupancy. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would authorize the Department of Transportation and local authorities to temporarily permit exclusive or preferential use of HOV lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, and other lanes for vehicles displaying a distinctive decal, label, or other identifier issued by the Olympic and Paralympic Games organizers that clearly distinguishes the vehicle is being operated on the games route network during an Olympic and Paralympic Games period. The bill would require the decal, label, or other identifier to be approved by the Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and to display a serial number or identification number to verify that the decal, label, or other identifier is being used on the vehicle for which it is issued. This bill would appropriate $1,000 to the Department of Transportation to fund projects in support of the games route network and would authorize the Department of Finance to augment that amount, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

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