AB463 was introduced by Assemblyman Van Tran (R-68AD) and sponsored by Southern California Contractors Association (SCCA) to help fleet owners who had run afoul of a California Highway Patrol interpretation of earlier legislation.

The issue came up when fleet owners found out they could lose their Hazardous Material Transportation License for up to three years for a paperwork violation, such as a late renewal application.  Assemblyman Tran introduced AB463, which was approved by the legislature signed by the Governor on August 5^th and became law January 1, 2010.

The new language will make it very clear that if you have an unsatisfactory rating, which could be for as little as not having all your paperwork in order during your BIT Inspection, once you’re in good standing your HMTL can be issued.  We don’t want to discount the importance of the carrier’s paperwork during a BIT Inspection, but rather we felt the financial impact this was having on a carrier was unreasonable.

We worked with the author of the original bill (AB 1612) Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-35AD), whose staff referred us to Janet Dawson, Chief Consultant Assembly Transportation Committee, who worked with CHP on the original bill. It was a very collaborative effort.

The new added language to the HMTL section is as follows:

CVC 32000.5 (f) this section does not prevent the department from issuing a new or initial license to transport hazardous materials to a motor carrier that applies for a license to transport hazardous materials and that, within the previous three years, has been issued an unsatisfactory rating as a result of an inspection conducted pursuant to Section 34501, 34501.12, or 34520, if the motor carrier has corrected the unsatisfactory rating before applying for the license to transport hazardous materials.

This should resolve any further issues as it relates to the issuance or renewal of your HMTL.

CHP Truck Scale Stops & SE Plate Updates

So who’s required to stop a CHP Scale Facility for Inspection?

We were contacted several years ago to work with Minimum Size Vehicle that must stop at a CHP Scale facility, Section 2813 of the California Vehicle Code (VC) states in part, "Every driver of a commercial vehicle to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection of the size, weight, equipment, and smoke emissions of the vehicle at any location where members f the California Highway Patrol are conducting tests and inspections of commercial vehicles and when signs are displayed requiring the stop."

The operative term here is "commercial vehicle." Section 260 VC defines a "commercial vehicle" as, "...a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property."

As you can see there is no legal minimum limitation to the size or weight of the vehicle required to submit to inspection.  Mechanic trucks are motortrucks by definition (Section 410 VC) due to the fact that they are,"... designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property."  The mechanic may argue that they do not transport property because they only carry their own tools and parts needed to fix vehicles, however the very items they are transporting are considered property.  Section 260 VC statute does not require the transportation of the property to be on a for hire basis, it only requires the vehicle to be, "...designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property."

CVC 2813.  Every driver of a commercial vehicle shall stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection of the size, weight, equipment, and smoke emissions of the vehicle at any location where members of the California Highway Patrol are conducting tests and inspections of commercial vehicles and when signs are displayed requiring the stop. Every driver who fails or refuses to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection when signs are displayed requiring that stop is guilty of a misdemeanor.

CVC 260.  (a) A "commercial vehicle" is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

(b) Passenger vehicles and house cars that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit are not commercial vehicles. This subdivision shall not apply to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3. (c) Any vanpool vehicle is not a commercial vehicle. (d) The definition of a commercial vehicle in this section does not apply to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 15200) of Division 6.

CVC 410.  A "motor truck" or "motortruck" is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

When operating a piece of equipment in the street that has an SE plate (water truck) does the Operator have to have a valid CA driver’s license?

In general, outside of a roadway construction zone operating under the specific exception (21053 CVC) a Commercial Drivers License is required.  The operation is as outlined in the permit or 21053 CVC as applicable. If it is not addressed, all applicable CVC sections apply. 21053 CVC specifically states that no exemption exists for travel to and from the site.

CVC 21053.  This code, except Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 10, Article 2 (commencing with Section 23152) of Chapter12 of Division 11, and Sections 25268 and 25269, does not apply to public employees and publicly owned teams, motor vehicles, and other equipment while actually engaged in work upon the surface of a highway, or work of installation, removal, repairing, or maintaining official traffic control devices. This code does apply to those persons and vehicles when traveling to or from their work.

If you are within the boundaries of your project, you would be considered exempt.  However, once you started to head home or travel outside of the boundaries of your project, especially if you’re loading equipment outside the boundaries, you will be required have a CDL.

Caltrans Updates:

Caltrans Transportation Permit Advisory Council (CTPAC) Next Meeting on February 26^th in Sacramento

Caltrans, California Highway Patrol Commercial Enforcement and Industry Stakeholders Workgroups will be held throughout the morning prior to the Steering Committee meeting at noon.  This forum allows open dialogue between all parties on issues that are affecting the industry and also affecting both Caltrans and/or CHP.   We specifically meet to discuss new and ongoing proposals that have been submitted by industry and then are assigned to a specific workgroup based on the issue. We don’t always get what we ask for, but, with the continued collaboration of the Department of Transportation and CHP, we are constantly improving both the process and the benefits for our industry.

We invite and encourage more industry stakeholders that can commit their valuable time back to our Industry and join any of the several workgroups.

Crane Towing a Legal Vehicle – Special permit language needed on face of permit.

Crane owners have the opportunity to take advantage of Transportation Permits Policy Memorandum TPPM 2004-03 that was implemented on November 2, 2004.  This policy was requested specifically to allow an eta legal self-propelled fixed load vehicle to tow a legal vehicle or trailer.

Industry has been stopped by local law enforcement and they have questioned this practice.  We were contacted by members for clarification on the issue.  If you plan on taking advantage of this practice, be sure to ask for this language when it comes time to renew your annual permit or applying for a new one, request the Tow Legal Vehicle language to be added.

Description of hauling equipment: may tow a legal vehicle or trailer as defined in Section 630 and 670 of the CVC, drawbar weight only may be transferred to the towing vehicle, towed vehicle’s gross weight not to exceed 20,000 pounds.

City of Antioch – This case has recently been closed with a reasonable settlement.

We had a member who received a citation for traveling three miles into the City of Antioch on a posted truck route while transporting their newly acquired 627 Cat Scraper.   When you’re that big, traveling down the highway, you’re a moving target for the local commercial enforcement officer to spot. The driver was stopped by one such officer.   It was discovered that they were 49,000 lbs overweight because they were not in possession of the $16 single-trip Antioch permit, which they did obtain, after the fact.

How does one respond when one receives a bail notice requesting immediate attention by either paying $37,558.50 bail amount with your MasterCard or, Visa, or appearing in court?

In the current economic environment localities are looking for any way possible to raise revenue. Our industry can’t afford these mistakes, whether it involves incorrect routing information or last-minute transportation orders.  These are those tough situations in which to find yourself if the equipment isn’t scheduled in due time.  The answer isn’t crossing your fingers and making a go of it; the answer is clear and constant communication between the hauler and the equipment owner if your are hauling your own, listen to your people when they tell you that you must have a permit in city X, Y or Z.  That is why I am writing to you that at a minimum you and/or your staff understand that, things can be done better if you take it seriously—just as seriously as you would a $37,558.50 fine.

In this case, after several court appearances, we were able to explain to the District Attorney that we were not “actually” overweight, we just didn’t have our one of the five transportation permits required to make the delivery successfully.  Our member was fortunate that his fine was reduced to $565.

This was something that our member really is taking as a learning experience.  Permits will always be a priority to their company.  This was one of those success stories that we need to share, but it is also a mistake that we don’t want to repeat.  You could be next, so make it a priority for a topic at your next driver safety meeting and communicate early and often with everybody in your transportation team.

City of Los Angeles Updates –

The Intermodal Overweight Container industry recently had their world turned upside down for a day.

When you’re working with the 2^nd largest city in the nation and especially during these challenging times, you have to be prepared for just about anything. The intermodal overweight container industry woke up one day to find out that they couldn’t get their overweight travel permits from the city to get their goods to the Port of Los Angeles, a move that would have crushed global commerce here.

While this middle-of-the night decision didn’t affect the construction industry directly, what we are about to explain isn’t something that we haven’t experienced ourselves.  For example, several years ago, a couple employees from the Bureau of Street Services (BSS) sat down one afternoon over a cup of coffee and “realized” that for years they have “misinterpreted” their own City Ordinance.  They decided that a mobile home (office trailers in our case) should be considered in the same category as a house move.  House moves are all done from 12:01 pm to 5: 00 a.m. and require an inspector at a cost of $350 to $458.   It took us six months to turn that mess around and although this issue was resolved, it is obvious that all that work never fazed the Bureau of Street Services.

So when we were recently contacted by the container industry, who we are working with on our ordinance changes that they are tied to also, we realized that a real problem was about to develop if we didn’t nip it in the bud immediately.  Again, after years of operating under one policy, BSS people decided on a change without notice, discussion or apparent thought as to the consequences of the decision.

The policy change took place overnight and no one saw it coming.  The Intermodal Overweight Containers that are involved in exporting goods out of the U. S. we’re going to reduce their weight by 15,000 lbs per container. We were told that the city was no longer going to issue overweight permits for Intermodal Overweight Container being used for export.  Street Services stated that the city had never issued any export overweight permits before and if they did, it was by mistake.

We made some quick calls keeping in mind time was of the essence.  Within just a few minutes we had received supporting documents and while the company didn’t want to be named, they supplied several spread sheets showing that their permits weren’t issued by mistake. They averaged 25 overweight export permits a month for the past three months.  That was no mistake, management was very surprised.

About 3:00 pm we received word from the City Attorney, that after review, their new draft ordinance language was addressing a problem that didn’t exist.  He felt that there wasn’t anything wrong with what has been going in the past to require stopping the issuance of export overweight permits.  This was resolved immediately at this point and everyone was back to business as usual.

We are very satisfied to see this issue resolved so quickly.  The problem is why; it didn’t even have to take place?  Why wasn’t this issue discussed with industry to see who will be impacted and the ultimate cost that will be burdened by industry.  Any time there is preplanning involved with all the stakeholders, it can be a successful change if the change becomes the ultimate decision.

Early Retirement Incentives – The city reports that 20% of its employees will take advantage of the incentives and those positions will not be replaced.

If you think dealing with the City of Los Angeles is tough now, just wait. Due to the financial position in which the city has found itself, you’re going to start seeing less and less customer service with the reduced number of staff.

City of Santa Ana – Pilot Car Requirements

Recently a member was a little shocked to find that he is now being required to have two Pilot Cars, one front and one rear to move through the city.   Our member operates and rents cranes.   The rule that is going to affect our member and many other is the due to the 75’ length rule, which states that, if you exceed 75’, you will need Pilot Cars.  We have a call into them and will follow up.

City of Thousand Oaks - Excessive permit fees

We were contacted about a complaint from one of our members who had been charged fare more than $16 for a permit.  We contacted the Public Works Director to see if how soon they would reduce their permit fees.and we were told they would review the documentation we sent and let us know—we are hoping soon!

Reaffirming Our Purpose:

If you have any problems with an agency (city/county/state) and you find yourself asking ‘why are we having to do things this way’ and the agency tells you, ‘this is the way we have always done it’, let us know. We are here to make California transportation operations as smooth, efficient and safe as possible.

Respectfully submitted,
Gregory D. Dineen