CALIFORNIA TRUCKING ASSOCIATION

Transcription

1 TRUCKING ASSOCIATION 2017 LEGISLATIVE REPORT CTA LEGISLATIVE CONTACTS Matt Roman Director of Legislative Affairs (916) Eric Sauer Senior Vice President of Government Affairs (916) Chris Shimoda Vice President of Government Affairs (916) LEGISLATIVE YEAR IN BRIEF 2017 was one of the CTA s most successful advocacy years in recent memory. Even with Democrats controlling 2/3rds of both houses and every statewide office, our industry was able to educate and work with Democratic leadership to advance several issues CTA s board had identified as priorities. Highlights from this year include: $5.2 billion annual infrastructure package with no new weight, VLF or registration fees. Regulatory certainty for fleets upgrading to new, clean trucks. $400 million in new truck incentives. Tied compliance with ARB Truck and Bus Rule to DMV truck registration. Reduced wait times for CDL drive tests from 90 days to below 20 days at every DMV facility. In the November 2016 election, Democrats were able to overwhelmingly increase their numbers in both houses with 56 out of 80 seats in the Assembly and 27 of the 40 seats in the Senate. However, business was able to strike compromises on many proposals thanks to the growth of the New Dems and Republicans strategically picking opportunities to work in a bipartisan fashion. The New Dems, a bloc of moderate Democratic legislators, worked with business coalitions to counteract the influence of labor and environmental groups on and stop several pieces of legislation. AB 5 Unfair scheduling Mandate AB 378 Costly Direct Control Cap and Trade Proposal SB 49 Existing Federal Laws enforceable under California Law SB 100 Establishes a 100% Renewable Energy Mandate by 2045 But even with those efforts labor and environmental groups were still able to pass several of their priority bills. AB 168 Prohibits Employers From Requesting Salary History. AB 199 Prevailing Wage for Private Residential Projects SB 2 Affordable Housing Fee on Real Estate Transactions SB 306 Retaliation claims with the Labor Commissioners Office Looking forward, bills that passed the legislature now await action by the Governor. Governor Brown has until October 15 to sign or veto any of the bills that made it to his desk.

2 CTA LEGISLATIVE REPORT SUMMARY Every year, the California Legislature reviews thousands of bills. This report will provide you with a just a sample of the many bills that CTA staff tracked and actively lobbied on behalf of our membership during BILLS SPONSORED BY CTA AB 301 (Rodriguez & Patterson) Commercial motor vehicle: examination requirements: driving skills test Status: Held in Senate Appropriations Governor Jerry Brown- Governor s Portrait California State Capitol LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP Governor Edmund G. Jerry Brown, Jr. (D) Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (D) Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon (D- 63 rd Assembly Republican Leader Brian Dahle (R-1st Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León (D-24 th Senate Republican Leader Patricia C. Bates (R-36 th In 2015, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) estimated that the trucking industry will need to hire 890,000 new truck drivers over the next ten years to replace retiring drivers and address existing shortages. CTA estimates that nearly 70,000 of those drivers will need to be hired in California. Truck drivers are required, by law, to hold commercial driver s licenses (CDL) if they wish to operate trucks with gross vehicle weight ratings over 26,000lbs. CDL applicants must take both a written exam and a driving skills test. Due to this urgent need to both address the existing driver shortage and replace a rapidly aging workforce, a backlog of applicants waiting to take driving skills tests has developed at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). CDL applicants are waiting, on average, over a month for the next available appointment at the DMV for the driving skills test, with waits at some offices stretching to over 60 days. In 2015 CTA s Board identified this as a priority issue and asked that CTA look into solutions. AB 301 was a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Assemblymembers Freddie Rodriguez and Jim Patterson, which would have addressed this problem by directing the DMV to do two things: Convene a stakeholder group and report back to the Legislature by January 2019, on what performance goals would be needed in order to lower wait times to the federally recommended seven day wait time. Secondly, the DMV would have been required to annually report to the legislature on the progress at implementing the recommendations made by the working group. Unfortunately, despite clearing the Assembly and Senate Transportation Committee without a single no vote, the bill was held in the Senate appropriations committee over cost concerns. This effort was far from in vain though. Since AB 301 s introduction wait times at DMV facilities have decreased to the point that every testing site is now under 20 days. While there is still work to be done, DMV has shown a willingness to undertake the issue and CTA and its allies will ensure that progress is continued and wait times continue to drop. SB 174 (Lara) Diesel-fueled vehicles: registration Status: Contents passed as part of SB 1 (Beall)

3 In 2007, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) approved the Truck and Bus Rule. Since then, the industry has spent nearly $1b a year complying with ARB regulations. Despite having been adopted nearly ten years ago, the ARB estimates approximately 30% of the trucks on the road still do not comply with the rule. Following CTA s board approved position, CTA sponsored SB174 which requires proof of compliance with the Truck and Bus Rule as a condition of registering a truck with the DMV Rear of the California State Capitol: Pre-Remodeling DID YOU KNOW? There were 2,550 bills drafted in 2017, the first year of the Legislative Session The official motto of the Assembly is Legislatorum Est Justas Leges Condere which from Latin translates to It is the Duty of Legislators to Make Just Laws After clearing the Senate Transportation Committee unanimously, the contents of SB 174 were incorporated and signed into law as part of the SB 1 infrastructure funding deal. This was a major win for the trucking industry as it offered the first chance for a viable enforcement mechanism to ensure there is a level playing field for those companies that have, at great expense, complied with the law and upgraded their equipment. BILLS SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR SB 1 (Beall) Transportation Funding CTA Position at Introduction: Neutral Current CTA Position: Support SB 1 was the culmination of 3 years of work by Transportation Committee Chairs Senator Jim Beall and Assemblymember Jim Frazier to fix California s infrastructure funding crisis. This bill will raise $5.2 billion annually to address our road and bridge maintenance backlog, which the State estimates at $63 billion. When this debate began three years ago, the CTA Infrastructure Taskforce, Highway Policy Committee and Board recommended that CTA to pursue the following policies: Redirect weight fees to roads and oppose weight fee increases, oppose VLF increases, oppose registration fees, funding from diesel should go to road projects. The official motto of the Senate is Senatoris Est Civitatis Libertatem Tueri which from Latin translates to It is the Duty of the Senators to Protect the Liberty of the People.") The final deal included: No new weight or registration fee increases and an exemption from the new VLF. $4 to roads/bridges for every $1 in new taxes paid by trucking. Regulatory certainty for truckers: ARB cannot require new truck engines to be retrofitted/retired/replaced earlier than 13 years or 800,000 miles (up to 18 years). DMV/CARB registration tie-in (SB174), Accountability measures, including restricting use of new diesel excise tax to roads/bridges (inc. in budget trailer bill language). With a majority of CTA s Board approved conditions met, CTA formally supported SB 1 and worked closely with the Governor and Legislative Leaders to ensure its passage. BILLS CURRENTLY AT THE GOVERNOR S DESK AB 134 (Budget) Cap and Trade Expenditure Plan

4 CTA Position at Introduction: Neutral AB 134 appropriated approximately $1.5 billion of cap and trade auction revenues. $400 million of this money is designed to incentivize small business truckers to purchase today s cleanest available engines and help speed the deployment of tomorrow s advanced truck technology. TRUCKING FACTS 8 out of 10 California communities are serviced exclusively by trucks. Trucks transport almost 90% of total manufactured tonnage in CA. As of 2017, there are 73,022 trucking companies located in CA, over 91% own 1-5 trucks. New technology diesel truck engines produce 99% fewer particulate matter (PM) and 97% fewer nitrogen oxides (NOx). Fleet Registration AB 458 (Frazier) Vehicle Registration AB 458 streamlines and expands the successful registration process established under the Permanent Fleet Registration (PFR) program. This program was established by the DMV to reduce the logistics associated with managing annual registration for large groups or fleets of vehicles owned by a single entity. The program originally targeted large commercial fleet such as utility or rental fleets. While PFR has been successful for large fleets, there remain a vast number of smaller fleets that could benefit from the program but are not large enough or associated with a management group to qualify. AB 458 would open up the program to these smaller fleets and 25 vehicles for individual fleets and 25 vehicles managed by an association. These reduced requirements will create significant efficiencies for fleets and the DMV. Truck Platooning AB 669 (Berman) Department of Transportation: motor vehicle technology Truckers spend $1 billion a year in the cleanest, more efficient equipment available. The trucking industry in CA paid approximately $3.2 billion in federal and state roadway taxes in The trucking industry paid 30% of all taxes owed by CA motorists, despite trucks representing only 7% of AB 669 extends a pilot program to conduct vehicle platooning on California highways from January 1, 2018 to January 1, In 2015 authority was granted for a Driver-Assistive Truck Platooning (DATP) system operating less than 100 feet apart to begin testing on California roads. This same testing has already begun in Europe and Asia. Companies around the state have been working on ways to move freight in the most effective way possible. With the good s movement industry expecting to grow over the next 10 years, CTA has been working hand in hand with the Legislature on ensuring California is at the forefront of any new technology giving our industry very available tool to move freight. It should be noted that a few CTA members have been participants in the piloting of truck platooning in California. AB 1222 (Quirk) Vehicles: electronic wireless communication devices

5 AB 1222 fixes an oversight from AB 1785 or 2015, clarifying that the use of two-way wireless communication devices used by trained professionals or properly licensed for the use of their jobs is allowed. While, AB 1785 was intended to only prohibit drivers from using wireless electronic devices it was not meant to encompass two way devices essential to the job functions of truck drivers and other professions when used by trained professionals. Rotunda of the California State Capitol LEGISLATIVE HISTORY The first legislative session met in San Jose in There were 16 Senators and 36 Assemblymembers. In 1856, the legislature paid architect M.F. Butler $1,500 for his design of the current Capitol in Sacramento. The first state road was authorized by the legislature in 1895 for the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, now part of US 50. In 1897, the Bureau of Highways, the forerunner of Caltrans, was established. In 1962, Pat Brown defeated Richard Nixon for the Governorship of California, leading Nixon to quip to a perceived unfriendly media: You won t have Nixon to kick around anymore! These devices are widely used in the trucking industry for their ability to dispatch drivers while already out for delivery and are critical in their ability to move goods around the state. This issue was brought up at CTA s Safety, Security and Human Resources Policy Committee earlier this year. CTA met with other concerned stakeholders and the CHP about the need for clarifying that these devices would continue to be allowed. CTA worked with Asm Quirk on AB 122 who was quick to introduce this measure when he learned of the issues that arose under AB 1785 BILLS THAT DIED: AB 302 (Gipson) South Coast Air Quality Management District: fleets CTA Position: Oppose AB 302 would have allowed the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) to develop regulations requiring zero and near-zero emission engines for all public agency fleets and commercial fleets. Upon introduction CTA identified numerous concerns with the bill such as likely federal preemption and empowering a sub-agency to ARB power to regulate truck fleets. After numerous discussions with the author, his staff, and the Transportation Committee Chairman, Asm Jim Frazier, the Chairman decided the bill needed to be shelved for the year. CTA appreciated the assist from CTA members who expressed their concerns to key legislators regarding the bill as well as the work from the author to meet and attempt to make AB 302 workable, but at the end of the day, the bill prematurely bypassed multiple rulemaking processes and would have gone against Governor Brown s call for balancing the deployment of zero-emission freight vehicles with both increased efficiencies and increased economic competitiveness. The Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act, the first law of its kind in the country, passed in 1960 beating the federal Clean Air Act by 7 year