BILL NUMBER: AB 2591 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 5, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Leno
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
An act to amend Sections 5353.5 and 5371.4
5371.4, 5411, and 5411.5 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to charter-party carriers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2591, as amended, Leno. Charter-party carriers: limousines.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including charter-party carriers of
passengers.
(1) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities
Commission, with jurisdiction over all public utilities, and
authorizes the Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the
Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon
the commission, that is cognate and germane to the regulation of
public utilities. Charter-party carriers of passengers are
subject to the jurisdiction and control of the commission under the
Passenger Charter-Party Carriers' Act. The act requires a
charter-party carrier of passengers to obtain from the commission a
certificate that public convenience and necessity require the
carrier's operation or , in the case of some carriers, to
obtain a permit to conduct operations issued by the
commission, and to operate within the state on a prearranged basis,
as defined. The act prohibits the commission from issuing or
renewing a permit unless the applicant has met specified
requirements, including the submission of specified filing fees.
The
The act does not apply to transportation service,
other than transportation service furnished in a limousine for hire,
rendered wholly within the corporate limits of a single city or city
and county and licensed or regulated by ordinance. The act
prohibits the governing body of any city, county, or city and county
from imposing business license fees on charter-party carriers
operating limousines .
This bill would delete those prohibitions and make conforming
changes to other related provisions of law.
The act , but authorizes the governing body
of any city, county, or city and county to impose a business license
fee on any charter-party carrier domiciled or maintaining a business
office within that city, county, or city and county. The act
prohibits the governing body of an airport from imposing vehicle
safety, licensing, or insurance requirements on charter-party
carriers operating limousines that are more burdensome than those
imposed by the commission, with certain exceptions pertaining to
airport operations.
This bill would additionally authorize the governing body
of any city, county, or city and county to impose a business license
fee on any charter-party carrier operating at an airport owned or
operated by that city, county, or city and county
authorize a city, county, or city and county to impose reasonable
rules for the inspection of waybills of charter-party carriers of
passengers operating within the jurisdiction of the city, county, or
city and county.
(2) Existing law authorizes a peace officer that arrests a person
for operating a charter-party carrier of passengers without a valid
certificate or permit at a public airport or within two miles of the
international border with Mexico, to impound and retain possession of
the vehicle, subject to certain exceptions and provisions for notice
and return of the vehicle.
This bill would authorize a peace officer, as defined, that
arrests a person for operating a charter-party carrier of passengers
without a valid certificate or permit to impound and retain
possession of the vehicle, subject to certain exceptions and
provisions for notice and return of the vehicle. The bill would make
the operation of a motor vehicle without possession of a valid permit
or operating authority a public nuisance and would authorize any
peace officer to remove any motor vehicle located within the
territorial limits in which the officer may act, when the vehicle is
found upon a public highway and is being used in a manner
constituting a public nuisance. The bill would authorize the law
enforcement agency to impound the vehicle for a period not to exceed
72 hours, upon the request of the commission, the Attorney General,
district attorney, city attorney, or county counsel, to enable the
requesting agency to abate the public nuisance, to obtain an order
from the superior court of the county in which the vehicle has been
impounded to prevent the use of the motor vehicle in violation of
law, and to obtain any other available remedy .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 5353.5 of the Public Utilities Code is
SECTION 1. Section 5371.4 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
5371.4. (a) The governing body of any city, county, or city and
county may not impose a fee on charter-party carriers operating
limousines. However, the governing body of any city, county, or city
and county may impose a business license fee on, and may adopt and
enforce any reasonable rules and regulations pertaining to operations
within its boundaries for, any charter-party carrier domiciled or
maintaining a business office within that city, county, or city and
county.
(b) The governing body of any airport may not impose vehicle
safety, vehicle licensing, or insurance requirements on charter-party
carriers operating limousines that are more burdensome than those
imposed by the commission. However, the governing board of any
airport may require a charter-party carrier operating limousines to
obtain an airport permit for operating authority at the airport.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), the governing body
of any airport may adopt and enforce reasonable and nondiscriminatory
local airport rules, regulations, and ordinances pertaining to
access, use of streets and roads, parking, traffic control, passenger
transfers, trip fees, and occupancy, and the use of buildings and
facilities, that are applicable to charter-party carriers operating
limousines on airport property.
(d) This section does not apply to any agreement entered into
pursuant to Sections 21690.5 to 21690.9, inclusive, between the
governing body of an airport and charter-party carriers operating
limousines.
(e) The commission shall conduct an audit and review of the annual
gross revenues earned by charter-party carriers operating limousines
for the purpose of ascertaining whether the imposition of additional
fees based on a charter-party carrier's gross annual revenues would
place an undue administrative or financial burden on the
charter-party carrier industry. The commission shall report its
findings to the Legislature on or before June 30, 1992.
(f) The governing body of any airport shall not impose a fee based
on gross receipts of charter-party carriers operating limousines.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, nothing in
this section prohibits a city, county, city and county, or the
governing body of any airport, from adopting and enforcing reasonable
permit requirements, fees, rules, and regulations applicable to
charter-party carriers of passengers other than those operating
limousines.
(h) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, a
city, county, or city and county may impose reasonable rules for the
inspection of waybills of charter-party carriers of passengers
operating within the jurisdiction of the city, county, or city and
county.
(i) For the purposes of this section, "limousine" includes
any luxury sedan, of either standard or extended length, with a
seating capacity of not more than nine passengers including the
driver, used in the transportation of passengers for hire on a
prearranged basis within this state.
SEC. 2. Section 5411 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
5411. (a) Every charter-party carrier of passengers
and every officer, director, agent, or employee of any charter-party
carrier of passengers who violates or who fails to comply with, or
who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any charter-party
carrier of passengers of any provision of this chapter, or who fails
to obey, observe, or comply with any order, decision, rule,
regulation, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or
of any operating permit or certificate issued to any charter-party
carrier of passengers, or who procures, aids, or abets any
charter-party carrier of passengers in its failure to obey, observe,
or comply with any such commission
order, decision, rule, regulation, direction, demand, or
requirement, or any operating permit or certificate, is
guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by fine of not more than
one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail
for not more than three months, or both.
(b) The operation of a motor vehicle used as a charter-party
carrier of passengers that does not possess a valid permit or
operating authority, as required by Article 2 (commencing with
Section 5371), constitutes a public nuisance. Any peace officer, as
defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of
Part 2 of the Penal Code, may remove any motor vehicle located within
the territorial limits in which the officer may act, when the
vehicle is found upon a public highway and is being used in a manner
constituting a public nuisance. At the request of the commission,
the Attorney General, district attorney, city attorney, or county
counsel, the law enforcement agency may impound the vehicle for a
period not to exceed 72 hours to enable the requesting agency to
abate the public nuisance, to obtain an order from the superior court
of the county in which the vehicle has been impounded to prevent the
use of the motor vehicle in violation of law, and to obtain any
other remedy available under law as permitted by Section 5416.
SEC. 3. Section 5411.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
5411.5. (a) Whenever a peace officer , as defined in Chapter
4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal
Code, arrests a person for a violation of Section 5411
involving the operation of a charter-party carrier of passengers
without a valid certificate or permit at a public airport,
within 100 feet of a public airport, or within two miles of the
international border between the United States and Mexico ,
the peace officer may impound and retain possession of the vehicle
used in violation of Section 5411.
(b) If the vehicle is seized from a person who is not the owner of
the vehicle, the impounding authority shall immediately give notice
to the owner by first-class mail.
(c) The vehicle shall immediately be returned to the owner without
cost to the owner if the infraction or violation is not prosecuted
or is dismissed, the owner is found not guilty of the offense, or it
is determined that the vehicle was used in violation of Section 5411
without the knowledge and consent of the owner. Otherwise, the
vehicle shall be returned to the owner upon payment of any fine
ordered by the court. After the expiration of six weeks from the
final disposition of the criminal case, the impounding authority may
deal with the vehicle as lost or abandoned property under Section
1411 of the Penal Code.
(d) At any time, a person may make a motion in superior court for
the immediate return of the vehicle on the ground that there was no
probable cause to seize it or that there is some other good cause, as
determined by the court, for the return of the vehicle. A
proceeding under this section is a limited civil case.
(e) No peace officer, however, may impound any vehicle owned or
operated by a nonprofit organization exempt from taxation pursuant to
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code which serves youth or
senior citizens and provides transportation incidental to its
programs or services. amended to read:
5353.5. On and after July 1, 1989, this chapter does not apply to
transportation service rendered wholly within the corporate limits
of a single city or city and county and licensed or regulated by
ordinance.
SEC. 2. Section 5371.4 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
5371.4. The governing body of any city, county, or city and
county may impose a business license fee on, and may adopt and
enforce any reasonable rules and regulations pertaining to operations
within its boundaries for, any charter-party carrier domiciled or
maintaining a business office within that city, county, or city and
county, or operating at an airport owned or operated by that city,
county, or city and county.