BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
                              Senator Jim Beall, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:          AB 173            Hearing Date:    6/9/2015
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          |Author:   |Holden                                                |
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          |Version:  |1/22/2015                                             |
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          |Urgency:  |No                     |Fiscal:      |No              |
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          |Consultant|Randy Chinn                                           |
          |:         |                                                      |
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          SUBJECT:  Golf carts:  City of La Verne


            DIGEST:  This bill deletes the sunset on the authority of the  
          City of La Verne to permit golf carts to be used on city  
          streets.

          ANALYSIS:
          
          Existing law:

          1)Defines "golf carts" as motor vehicles weighing less than  
            1,300 pounds, designed to operate at not more than 25 miles  
            per hour, and designed to carry not more than two persons.

          2)Authorizes cities or counties to adopt golf cart  
            transportation plans that do not include the use of any state  
            highway.  A crossing of, or a golf cart lane along, a state  
            highway may be included in the plan if authorized by the law  
            enforcement agency having primary traffic enforcement  
            responsibility.

          3)Specifies certain required elements in the golf cart  
            transportation plan, including minimum general design criteria  
            for the development, planning, and construction of separated  
            golf cart lanes.

          4)Exempts the City of La Verne from the requirement for  
            separated golf cart lanes, under specified conditions, until  
            January 1, 2016. 







          AB 173 (Holden)                                    Page 2 of ?
          
          

          This bill removes the January 1, 2016, sunset.

          COMMENTS:

          Description of La Verne.  Founded in 1887, La Verne is in the  
          foothills of the San Gabriel-Pomona Valleys.  La Verne is  
          approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles in Los Angeles  
          County.  La Verne is a small city of 33,000 covering 8.5 square  
          miles.  It has eight mobilehome parks, three large retirement  
          communities, and a university of about 2,500 students.

          Author's statement.  The author notes that La Verne is home to  
          the University of La Verne as well as a large retirement  
          community.  Because of the town's narrow roads and pathways,  
          these facilities began using golf carts as the primary means of  
          transportation between the non-contiguous portions of their  
          facilities in the 1970s.  In 2008, the Legislature provided La  
          Verne with an exemption to the general statewide prohibition on  
          golf cart use on public roadways.  The author states that the La  
          Verne Police Department has recorded no accidents or injuries  
          stemming from the use of golf carts on public roads by the  
          university or retirement community since the exemption has been  
          in effect.

          Not widely used.  La Verne has restricted the use of golf carts  
          to employees of the university and retirement communities.  The  
          police chief of La Verne reports that the golf carts are not  
          frequently used and that he sees them on the street on a  
          less-than-daily basis.

          Course change.  The January 1, 2016, sunset on the use of golf  
          carts in the City of La Verne was intended to allow time for the  
          university and retirement communities to transition to safer  
          vehicles which meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.   
          By eliminating the sunset, the City of La Verne will be  
          permanently allowed to permit the use of golf carts, a change in  
          the policy articulated in the original legislation.  In support  
          of this policy change, the author's office notes that there have  
          been no accidents with the golf carts, a fact confirmed by the  
          La Verne police department.

          Related Legislation:

          SB 241 (Bates), which passed this committee on an 11-0 vote  








          AB 173 (Holden)                                    Page 3 of ?
          
          
          earlier this year, would extend by five years the County of  
          Orange's authority to adopt a neighborhood electric vehicle  
          transportation plan and to submit its report on the results of  
          that plan to the Legislature.  This bill is pending in the  
          Assembly.

          Assembly Votes:

            Floor:   78-0
            Trans:  16-0
          
          FISCAL EFFECT:  Appropriation:  No    Fiscal Com.:  No    Local:  
           No


            
          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on  
          Wednesday,
                          June 3, 2015.)
          
            SUPPORT:  

          University of La Verne (sponsor)
          Hillcrest Retirement Community (sponsor)
          City of La Verne Fire Department
          City of La Verne Police Department
          LeadingAge California
          San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership

          OPPOSITION:

          None received


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