BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 206 (Gaines) - Vehicle information systems
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|Version: May 6, 2015 |Policy Vote: E.Q. 6 - 1, JUD. 6 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 206 would prohibit the California Air Resources
Board (ARB) from obtaining locational data from a vehicle
information system.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time costs of at least $200,000 with ongoing costs less
than $150,000 annually from various special funds* to the ARB
reconfigure or replace devices and vehicles that currently can
obtain locational data.
Unknown one-time costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars, to various special funds* to alter existing testing,
research, modeling, and regulatory programs to find substitute
data or other workarounds for the loss of locational data.
* Motor Vehicle Account, Air Pollution Control Fund, Vehicle
Inspection and Repair Fund, and the Cost of Implementation Fund
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Background: On-board diagnostic (OBD) systems are computer-based systems
built into the hardware and software of a vehicle's on-board
computer of all 1996 and later light-duty vehicles and trucks,
as required by the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
OBD II, California's second generation of OBD requirements, is a
diagnostic system incorporated into the vehicle's powertrain
computer. The purpose of the OBD II systems is to detect high
emission levels caused by emission-related malfunctions, reduce
the time between the occurrence of a malfunction and its
detection and repair, and also to assist in the diagnosis and
repair of the malfunction. OBD II systems activate their
monitoring strategies during normal on-road vehicle driving. If
a problem is detected, the OBD II system illuminates a warning
lamp on the vehicle instrument panel to alert the driver, and
stores data related to the detected malfunction in the on-board
computer so that it will be available to the technician for
downloading when the vehicle is serviced.
Proposed Law:
This bill prohibits ARB from obtaining locational data from a
vehicle information system except if that data is being used to
assist a vehicle owner in a defense against an enforcement
action brought by the ARB.
"Vehicle information system" is defined as a device integrated
into the vehicle that collects data that can by itself, or with
other information, be used to individually identify the
registered owner of the vehicle, the driver of the vehicle, or
the operation, use, or condition of the vehicle.
Related
Legislation: AB 886 (Chau, 2015) would prohibit a
transportation network provider, as defined, from requesting or
requiring personally identifiable data, including locational
data, of a passenger except for certain purposes. This bill is
currently in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
SB 994 (Monning, 2014) would have restricted the use of vehicle
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data without the consent of a vehicle's owner by both the public
and private sector. This bill failed in the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee.
AB 213 (Leslie) Chapter 427, Statutes of 2003 required that if a
motor vehicle is equipped with one or more data recording
devices for the purpose of retrieving data after an accident,
then the vehicle manufacturer must disclose this fact in the
owner's manual of the vehicle.
Staff
Comments: According to the ARB website, there are no plans to
create a new OBD program that would utilize remote transponders
to send information to the ARB indicating whether the vehicle's
emissions are in compliance. That said, according to the ARB, it
currently collects locational data for various testing,
research, modeling, and regulatory purposes. For example,
locational data enables ARB to study how emissions correlate to
geographical conditions and to inform the creation of
site-specific emissions inventories. Much of this information is
collected voluntarily, like under the ARB's Truck and Bus
regulations, where the regulated party can voluntarily provide
electronic tracking in place of a log-book recording to annually
show compliance. This bill would prohibit ARB from collecting
all locational data, except in defense of the vehicle owner in
an enforcement action brought by ARB, even if the information is
voluntarily offered. This bill would impose unknown, but likely
one-time costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, to find
alternatives to locational data in ARB's various testing,
research, modeling, and regulatory purposes.
Locational data is collected electronically from the vehicle
information system with off-board data loggers or scan tools.
Under this bill, ARB would be required to review the various
devices and vehicles used by the ARB that might be able to
obtain locational data from the vehicle information system.
There would be substantial upfront work initially to review and
reconfigure or replace all affected equipment. These review
costs are uncertain but are likely to be at least $200,000
spread across various special funds. There would also be some
ongoing costs to review new equipment that are likely to be
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substantially less than the initial efforts, likely less than
$150,000 per year.
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