BILL NUMBER: SB 582 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Emmerson
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Huffman)
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Section 65081 to the Government Code, relating to
transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 582, as introduced, Emmerson. Commute benefit policies.
Existing law requires transportation planning agencies to
undertake various transportation planning activities, including
preparation of a regional transportation plan. Existing law requires
transportation planning agencies that are designated under federal
law as metropolitan planning organizations to include a sustainable
communities strategy as part of the regional transportation plan for
their region. Existing law creates air quality management districts
with various responsibilities relative to reduction of air pollution.
This bill, beginning on January 1, 2013, would authorize a
metropolitan planning organization, in partnership with the local air
quality management district, to adopt a commute benefit ordinance
that requires covered employers operating within the common
jurisdiction of the organization and district with 20 or more covered
employees to offer those employees certain commute benefits. The
bill would require that the ordinance specify certain matters,
including any consequences for noncompliance.
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 65081 is added to the Government Code, to read:
65081. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
metropolitan planning organizations and local air quality management
districts to work with local employers to adopt policies that
encourage commuting by means other than the single-occupancy vehicle.
(b) On or after January 1, 2013, a metropolitan planning
organization, in partnership with the local air quality management
district, may adopt a commute benefit ordinance that requires covered
employers with 20 or more covered employees operating within the
common jurisdiction of the organization and district to offer all
covered employees one of the following choices:
(1) A pretax option: a program, consistent with Section 132(f) of
the Internal Revenue Code, allowing covered employees to elect to
exclude from taxable wages employee commuting costs incurred for
transit passes or vanpool charges, or bicycle commuting, up to the
maximum amount allowed by federal tax law.
(2) Employer-paid benefit: a program whereby the covered employer
covers the monthly cost of commuting via a public transit system
requested by each covered employee or reimburses each covered
employee's qualified vanpool charges.
(3) Employer-provided transit: transportation furnished by the
covered employer at no cost to the covered employee in a vanpool or
bus, or similar multipassenger vehicle operated by or for the
employer.
The commute benefit ordinance shall provide covered employers with
at least six months to comply after the ordinance is adopted.
(c) A commute benefit ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
shall specify all of the following: (1) how the implementing agencies
will inform covered employers about the ordinance, (2) how
compliance with the ordinance will be demonstrated, and (3) any
consequences for noncompliance.
(d) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Covered employer" means any employer for which an average of
20 or more employees per week perform work for compensation within
the jurisdiction where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
operates. In determining the number of employees performing work for
an employer during a given week, only employees performing work on a
full-time basis shall be counted.
(2) "Covered employee" means an employee who performed at least 10
hours of work per week within the previous calendar month within the
jurisdiction where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
operates.