Bill Text: CA AB539 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Electronic toll collection systems: information use.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-07-03 - In committee: Set, final hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB539 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB539-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 539	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 5, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Williams

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   An act to add Section 42000.2 to the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicles.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 539, as amended, Williams. Vehicles: speeding: school zones:
penalties.
   Existing law establishes the prima facie speed limit on various
roadways, including a 25 miles per hour speed limit when approaching
or passing a school building or grounds, contiguous to a highway and
posted with a standard "SCHOOL" warning sign, while children are
going to or leaving the school. Existing law authorizes a local
authority to lower the speed limit in a school zone in certain
circumstances including when a local authority determines upon the
basis of an engineering and traffic survey the prima facie speed
limit of 25 miles per hour is more than is reasonable or safe. A
violation of the Vehicle Code is an infraction unless stated
otherwise. Existing law establishes a penalty structure for a person
convicted of an infraction that requires a fine of not more than $100
or $250 depending on the number of violations within a specified
time period. 
   This bill would instead require a person who violates a speed
limit law in a school zone to be punished with a base fine of $150
for a person who exceeds the speed limit by one to 15 miles per hour,
a base fine of $200 for a person who exceeds the speed limit by 16
to 25 miles per hour, and a base fine of $250 for a person who
exceeds the speed limit by 26 miles per hour or more. The bill would
require a person convicted of a 2nd speeding violation in a school
zone, within 3 years of the first violation, to be punished with a
$100 penalty in addition to penalties described above. The bill would
require the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the driver's
license of anyone who is convicted of 3 or more speeding violations
in a school zone within 3 years of 2 or more violations. 

   This bill would authorize a local authority to adopt an ordinance
or resolution that doubles a base fine imposed upon a person who is
convicted of speeding in a school zone if certain conditions are met,
including the condition that the street on which the speeding
offense occurred is not one where the speed could have been reduced
because the maximum posted prima facie speed limit is greater than 30
miles per hour, as provided. The bill would provide that the
doubling of the base fine shall not result in the increase in any
associated and additional penalties, fines, fees, or assessments, as
provided by law. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 42000.2 is added to the 
 Vehicle Code   , to read:  
   42000.2.  (a) A local authority may adopt an ordinance or
resolution that doubles the base fine imposed on a person who is
convicted of speeding in a school zone, as defined in Section 40802,
if the following conditions are met:
   (1) Children are present at the time the offense was committed.
   (2) A sign was erected in the zone that provides notification to
the driver of the doubled base fine zone.
   (3) The highway on which the offense occurred is not one for which
the speed limit could have been reduced by the local authority
pursuant subdivision (b) of Section 22358.4 because the posted speed
limit does not meet the condition specified in subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (2) of that subdivision.
   (b) Doubling of the base fine, pursuant to this section, shall not
result in the increase in any associated and additional penalties,
fines, fees, or assessments as provided by law.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 42000.2 is added to the
Vehicle Code, to read:
   42000.2.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 42001, a person who violates
the speed limit law, pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2)
of subdivision (a) of Section 22352, or violates a lower speed limit
established by a local authority, pursuant to Section 22358.4, in a
school zone, as defined in Section 40802, shall be punished as
follows:
   (1) For a person speeding one to 15 miles over the speed limit, a
base fine of one hundred fifty dollars ($150).
   (2) For a person speeding 16 to 25 miles over the speed limit, a
base fine of two hundred dollars ($200).
   (3) For a person speeding 26 miles or more over the speed limit, a
base fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250).
   (b) (1) If a person is convicted of a second violation of speeding
in a school zone within three years of the first violation, the
person shall be punished by a one-hundred-dollar ($100) penalty in
addition to the penalties described in subdivision (a).
   (2) If a person is convicted of a third or subsequent violation of
speeding in a school zone within three years of two or more separate
violations, the department shall suspend the person's driver's
license for a period of six months.
   (c) A person punished pursuant to this section shall receive one
violation point on his or her driving record pursuant to subdivision
(f) of Section 12810.
   (d) A court shall not reduce the penalties described in this
section.