BILL NUMBER: SB 1491 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2000
INTRODUCED BY Senator Leslie
(Coauthor: Senator Johnston)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bock, Cox, House, Longville,
Pescetti, and Zettel)
FEBRUARY 11, 2000
An act to amend Sections 7604 and 7678 of
of, and add Section 7604.5 to, the Public Utilities Code,
relating to transportation , and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1491, as amended, Leslie. Railroad crossings: automated
warning devices.
Existing law requires that a an
audible warning device be sounded from a locomotive engine at least
1320 feet before the intersection of the railroad and a street, road,
or highway with certain exceptions. Existing law imposes a civil
fine on a railroad corporation that violates this provision and makes
it a misdemeanor for a person in charge of a locomotive engine to
fail to sound the warning.
This bill would eliminate the requirement that the warning device
on the locomotive engine be sounded when approaching a railroad
crossing that has a permanent audible warning device that
automatically sounds as the locomotive engine approaches the railroad
crossing. This bill would also require the commission to
develop and administer a pilot program to test audible warning
devices in at least 3 communities interested in the devices.
Specified deadlines would be required to be met and a report made to
the Legislature not later than November 1, 2001.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 .
Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local
program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7604 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
7604. (a) A bell, of at least 20 pounds weight or of equivalent
sound-producing capability, shall be placed on each locomotive
engine, and shall be rung at a distance of at least 1,320 feet from
the place where the railroad crosses any street, road, or highway,
and be kept ringing until it has crossed the street, road, or
highway; or a steam whistle, air siren, or an air whistle shall be
attached, and be sounded at the like distance, and be kept sounding
at intervals until it has crossed the street, road, or highway,
except as follows:
(1) Notwithstanding Section 7678, in a city, the ringing of the
bell or the sounding of the steam whistle, air siren, or air whistle
shall be at the discretion of the operator of the locomotive engine.
(2) When a locomotive engine is engaged in a switching operation
or comes to a stop at any point within a distance of 1,320 feet from
the place at which the railroad crosses any street, road, or highway,
it shall not be necessary that the bell be rung or the whistle, air
siren, or air whistle be sounded, until the time and from the place
that the locomotive begins an uninterrupted movement to and across
the place at which the railroad crosses the street, road, or highway.
(3) Notwithstanding Section 7678, the ringing of the bell or the
sounding of the steam whistle, air siren, or air whistle is not
required when approaching a railroad crossing that has a permanently
installed clearly audible warning device
approved by the commission that sounds automatically when an
approaching train is at least 1,320 feet from the place where the
railroad crosses any street, road, or highway, and that keeps
ringing until the entire train sounding until
the locomotive engine has crossed the street, road, or
highway. The automatic warning devise device
shall sound at the same or greater decibel level as that set
forth in subdivision (a) for a warning device mounted on a locomotive
engine.
(b) Any railroad corporation violating this section shall be
subject to a penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) for every
violation. The penalty may be recovered in an action prosecuted by
the district attorney of the proper county, for the use of the state.
The corporation is also liable for all damages sustained by any
person, and caused by its locomotives, train, or cars, when the
provisions of this section are not complied with.
SEC. 2. Section 7604.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
7604.5. (a) The commission shall develop and administer a pilot
program to test the use of audible warning devices where a railroad
crosses a street, road, or highway in at least three communities
interested in permanently installing these devices for noise
mitigation purposes.
(b) (1) The commission shall develop guidelines to assist
potential applicants and the guidelines shall be available to
potential applicants not later than three months after the act that
adds this section becomes operative.
(2) The commission shall take into consideration the public's
safety when developing the guidelines for the program.
(3) The commission shall select at least three sites for the
installation of audible warning devices from the pool of qualified
applicants not later than six months after the act that adds this
section becomes operative. Selected applicants shall install the
audible warning devices and complete the data collection requirements
of the program not later than eight months after being selected by
the commission.
(c) The commission shall, after compiling and reviewing the data,
report its findings to the Legislature not later than November 1,
2001. The data to be collected in the administration of this program
shall include, but not be limited to, the calculations discussed in
the Introduction to Appendices A and B to 49 C.F.R. Part 222 in the
Federal Railroad Administration's notice of proposed rulemaking on
"Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings," as
published in Vol. 65, No. 9 of the Federal Register (Thursday,
January 13, 2000).
SEC. 3. Section 7678 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
7678. Except as provided in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of
Section 7604, every person in charge of a locomotive engine who,
before crossing any traveled public way, omits to cause a bell to
ring or steam whistle, air siren, or air whistle to sound at the
distance of at least 1,320 feet from the crossing, and up to it, is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order for the test of the pilot program for audible warning
devices on locomotive engines and the feasibility of that system to
be assessed as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act take
effect immediately.