BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2591
Author: Leno (D)
Amended: 7/7/04 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMM. COMMITTEE : 8-1, 6/22/04
AYES: Bowen, Morrow, Alarcon, Battin, Dunn, Murray, Sher,
Vasconcellos
NOES: McClintock
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/29/04
AYES: McPherson, Vasconcellos, Burton, Margett, Romero,
Sher
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/4/04
AYES: Alpert, Battin, Ashburn, Bowen, Machado, Poochigian,
Speier
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Burton, Escutia, Johnson,
Karnette, Murray
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-1, 5/26/04 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Charter-party carriers: limousines
SOURCE : United Taxicab Workers
DIGEST : This bill modifies numerous statutes governing
taxicabs and charter-party carriers, e.g. limousines. The
bill increases the penalties for operating a charter-party
carrier or taxicab without a valid certificate or in
violation of a local ordinance.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : Current law requires charter-party carriers to
obtain authorization from the State Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to operate. Local governments are
precluded from imposing business license fees on
charter-party carriers operating limousines except when a
carrier maintains a business office in that city or county.
Airports are generally prohibited from imposing vehicle
safety, licensing or insurance requirements that are more
burdensome than those imposed by the PUC. Charter-party
carriers are required to operate on a pre-arranged basis
with passengers.
This bill authorizes cities and counties to impose rules to
inspect the waybills of charter-party carriers operating
within the city or county to verify that passenger travel
was indeed pre-arranged.
This bill requires the PUC to require every charter-party
carrier to include on a waybill the name of at least one
passenger in the traveling party, the origin and
destination of the party, and information as to whether the
transportation was arranged by telephone or written
contract.
Current law allows a peace officer to arrest a person
operating a charter-party carrier without a valid permit at
or near a public airport or within two miles of the United
States/Mexico border and to impound the vehicle.
This bill authorizes a peace officer that arrests a person
operating a charter-party carrier as a taxicab in violation
of a local ordinance to impound the vehicle.
Current law establishes a maximum fine for people convicted
of operating a charter-party carrier or taxicab without a
valid certificate or license. Those maximum fines are
$1,000 for the first conviction, $2,000 for the second,
$3,000 for the third, $4,000 for the fourth, and $5,000 for
the fifth, subject to the court determining that the
operator has the ability to pay.
This bill increases the maximum fine to a fine not
exceeding $2,500 for a first conviction or $5,000 for a
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subsequent conviction, subject to the determination that
the operator has the ability to pay.
Current law provides that when the PUC finds that a
charter-party carrier operates without PUC authorization,
the PUC may impose a fine of up to $5,000 for each
violation, plus the expenses of the PUC.
This bill also authorizes the PUC to impose such fines when
it finds that a charter-party carrier operates as a taxicab
without proper local permits.
Comments
Need for this bill . According to the author's office, this
bill is intended to address a competition problem with
limousine services that violate their operating
certificates and permits. The United Taxicab Workers is
particularly concerned about limousine services that act
like taxicab services, a violation of provisions that limit
limousine transport of passengers to prearranged trips.
In an effort to achieve more consistency in local and PUC
regulation of passenger transport, this bill also
authorizes penalties and other potential sanctions against
taxicab operators that are currently imposed on limousine
services.
Limousine services, classified in statute as "charter-party
carriers of passengers," are allowed to transport
passengers for hire only to the extent that transport was
prearranged with the service by the passengers.
Prearrangement generally involves a reservation of
limousine services by phone or in person by a written
contract. Limousine services are precluded from picking up
passengers on a spontaneous basis, as taxicab operators are
allowed to do. This bill addresses this situation by
allowing cities and counties to require limousine services
to maintain waybills that show that a passenger is in a
limousine under prearranged conditions and by requiring the
PUC to mandate that information.
Background
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Charter-party carriers are vehicles used to transport
passengers who have pre-arranged for such transportation
and are essentially renting the entire vehicle (this is not
to be confused with vehicles such as Supershuttle, where
people pre-arrange for a seat on a shuttle bus rather than
rent the whole van. Those vehicles are regulated by the
PUC as passenger stages). There are 3,600 charter-party
carriers in California, most of which are limousines, and
they contrast with taxicabs that transport passengers
without pre-arrangement.
Because charter-party carriers typically transport
passengers between cities, they operate with a single state
license so they will not be required to obtain permits from
individual cities and counties. Taxicabs, on the other
hand, must obtain local permits to operate and do not have
to obtain the permission of the PUC. PUC regulation of
charter-party carriers is intended to ensure driver
fitness, maintenance of safe vehicles, establishment of a
workplace drug testing program, and acquisition of adequate
workers compensation and liability insurance.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, increased
costs to the PUC could be $100,000 to $120,000 to adopt
regulations. PUC Transportation Reimbursement Account
revenues are derived from fees imposed on limousine
services and other charter-party carriers. Therefore, any
increased costs to the PUC should be recovered from fee
revenues.
The average annual civil fine revenues from charter-party
carriers is about $15,000. There could be unknown,
probably not substantial, increased General Fund revenues
to the extent that the PUC imposes fines on charter-party
carriers operating as taxicabs without a valid certificate
or permit.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/04)
United Taxicab Workers (source)
California Labor Federation
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City of Los Angeles
Greater California Livery Association
Independent Taxi Company
Independent Taxi Owners Association
Los Angeles Board of Taxicab Commissioners
Los Angeles County Taxi Association
Los Angeles Transportation Committee
San Francisco Taxi Commission
San Francisco Taxicab Association
The Region 8 States Council of the United Food & Commercial
Workers
Carl Macmurdo Taxi Driver and Board member of PDA
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Bates, Benoit, Berg, Bogh, Calderon,
Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett,
Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz, Dutra, Dutton, Dymally,
Firebaugh, Frommer, Garcia, Goldberg, Hancock, Harman,
Jerome Horton, Shirley Horton, Houston, Jackson, Keene,
Kehoe, Koretz, La Suer, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine,
Lieber, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado,
Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Montanez, Mountjoy, Mullin,
Nakanishi, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza,
Pacheco, Parra, Pavley, Plescia, Reyes, Richman,
Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, Samuelian, Simitian, Spitzer,
Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Wesson, Wiggins, Wolk,
Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Haynes
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bermudez, Campbell, La Malfa, Runner
NC:mel 8/9/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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