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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Holden | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |1/22/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Randy Chinn | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -- END --