Amended  IN  Senate  June 27, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 01, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 25, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 1424

Introduced by Assembly Member Berman
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Fong, Gipson, Kalra, and Ting)

February 22, 2019

An act to amend Sections 44268 and 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public resources.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1424, as amended, Berman. Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Open Access Act.
The Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Open Access Act prohibits the charging of a subscription fee on persons desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station, as defined, and prohibits requiring those persons to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station, except as specified. The act requires an electric vehicle charging station to provide to the general public 2 specified options for payment. The act also authorizes the State Air Resources Board, if no interoperability billing standards have been adopted by a national standards organization by January 1, 2015, to adopt interoperability billing standards, as defined, for network roaming payment methods for electric vehicle charging stations, and requires, if the state board adopts standards, all electric vehicle charging stations that require payment to meet those standards within one year.
This bill instead would require an electric vehicle charging station to provide to the general public a minimum of 2 out of a list of 4 specified options for payment, in addition to a toll-free telephone number for processing a credit card payment. The bill would prohibit a state agency from requiring a credit card payment, as defined, to be through a physical credit card or magstripe reader on electric vehicle service equipment. The bill would revise the provision authorizing the state board to adopt interoperability billing standards for network roaming payment methods for electric vehicle charging stations by authorizing the state board to instead adopt interoperability roaming standards and delaying that authorization until January 1, 2023. The bill instead would authorize the state board, if no interoperability roaming standards, as defined, have been adopted by an international standards organization by January 1, 2021, to adopt interoperability roaming standards for network roaming payment methods for electric vehicle charging stations, and would require, if the state board adopts standards, all electric vehicle charging stations that require payment to meet those standards within one year.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) As of 2017, the state has over 8,000 gasoline fueling stations. To support the state’s goal of 1,500,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2025, the state will need 250,000 electric vehicle charging stations. That number will need to increase significantly to effectively support the state’s goal of 5,000,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
(b) The financial technology market is quickly evolving to meet the needs of consumers and provide them with payment systems and financial tools that are secure, reliable, and cost effective.
(c) Mobile and contactless payment methodologies are secure, innovative payment technologies that provide improved reliability and enhanced security for consumers. In the United States, major financial companies, including Chase, Capital One, and Visa, already offer or will offer contactless forms of payment by the end of 2019. In other countries, contactless payment methods are common practice. Europe is mandating that all point-of-sale terminals be contactless-enabled by 2020.
(d) Like any business, electric vehicle service providers have an obligation to protect consumers’ information with secure payment technologies. Many electric vehicle service providers offer multiple secure innovative payment technologies for the use of their stations, including mobile applications, radio frequency identification (RFID) cards, contactless cards, and vehicle telematics. In Canada and Europe, electric vehicle drivers predominantly use mobile payment technologies or contactless cards to access charging stations.
(e) In light of the forthcoming demand for electric vehicle charging stations in the near future, it is imperative that the state ensure that the most up-to-date and secure technologies are used for electric vehicle infrastructure.

SEC. 2.

 Section 44268 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

44268.
 As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) “Battery” means an electrochemical energy storage system powered directly by electrical current.
(b) “Electric vehicle” means a vehicle that uses a plug-in battery to provide all or part of the motive power of the vehicle, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or plug-in fuel cell vehicle.
(c) “Electric vehicle charging station” means one or more publicly available parking spaces served by electric vehicle service equipment.
(d) “Electric vehicle service equipment” means an electric component assembly or cluster of component assemblies designed specifically to charge batteries within electric vehicles by permitting the transfer of electric energy to a battery or other storage device in an electric vehicle.
(e) “Interoperability roaming standards” means the ability for a member of one electric charging station network to receive charging services from another electric charging station network.
(f) “Network roaming” means the act of a member of one electric vehicle charging station billing network using a charging station that is outside of the member’s billing network with the member’s billing network account information.
(g) “Onsite capacity for credit card payment” means any payment taken from a credit card through a contactless credit card or processed through a chip or magstripe credit card reader.
(h) “Publicly available parking space” means a parking space that has been designated by a property owner or lessee to be available to, and accessible by, the public and may include on-street parking spaces and parking spaces in surface lots or parking garages. “Publicly available parking space” shall not include a parking space that is part of, or associated with, a private residence, a parking space that is reserved for the exclusive use of an individual driver or vehicle or for a group of drivers or vehicles, such as employees, tenants, visitors, residents of a common interest development, or residents of an adjacent building, or a parking space provided by a producer of electric vehicles as a service. Nothing in this article limits the ability of an owner or lessee of a publicly available parking space whose primary business is other than electric vehicle charging from restricting use of the parking space, such as limiting use to customers and visitors of the business.

SEC. 3.

 Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

44268.2.
 (a) (1) Persons desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station that requires payment of a fee shall not be required to pay a subscription fee to use the station, and shall not be required to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station. The total actual charges for the use of an electric vehicle charging station, including any additional network roaming charges for nonmembers, shall be disclosed to the public at the point of sale pursuant to the rules established by the Division of Measurement Standards in the Department of Food and Agriculture. An electric vehicle charging station that requires payment of a fee shall allow a person desiring to use the station to pay via a toll-free telephone number to process a credit card payment and at least two of the following:
(A) RFID Radio frequency identification (RFID) card payment.
(B) Near field communication or other mobile technology payment.
(C) Vehicle telematics payment.
(D) Onsite capacity for credit card payment.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an electric vehicle charging station may offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis provided those electric vehicle charging stations allow nonsubscribers or nonmembers the ability to use the electric vehicle charging station through the payment options detailed in paragraph (1).
(3) A state agency shall not require a credit card payment to be through a physical credit card or magstripe reader on electric vehicle service equipment.
(b) The service provider of electric vehicle service equipment at an electric vehicle charging station or its designee shall disclose to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory the electric vehicle charging station’s geographic location, a schedule of fees, accepted methods of payment, and the amount of network roaming charges for nonmembers, if any.
(c) Electric vehicle charging stations shall be labeled in accordance with Part 309 of Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and, where commercially reasonable and feasible, may be clearly marked with appropriate directional signage in the parking area or facility where they are located.
(d) If no interoperability roaming standards have been adopted by an international standards organization by January 1, 2023, 2021, the state board may adopt interoperability roaming standards for network roaming payment methods for electric vehicle charging stations. If the state board adopts interoperability roaming standards, all electric vehicle charging stations that require payment shall meet those standards within one year. Any standards adopted by the state board shall consider other governmental or industry-developed interoperability roaming standards standards, and the state board may adopt interoperability roaming standards promulgated by an outside authoritative body.