California SB-286 HOV Extension Update

I saw that...crossing my fingers!!

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Always follow the money…

Toyota was nowhere to be seen. That's also of interest.

But I am totally down with the bill. Passage will allow me to continue to use diamond lane throughout the useful lifetime of my PiP…

 

Hopefully, this will result in the intended incentive for more plug-in hybrids on the road. There are 40,000 more available green HOV stickers.

 

I will be so happy to see this pass!
Any word on whether it changes the payment of bridge tolls?

 

Actually, roughly 10,900 had been issued as of March 1, so roughly 29,000 remain. Still, as you point out, it would be a good incentive to get more on the road.

 

I could not find this bill, but I did find Bill Text: CA AB266 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced | LegiScan, which is Assembly Bill 266, which extends the Green Stickers to 2025. I wrote to my Assembly Member and asked him to support AB 266.

 

I think this is really great news. These bills aren't likely to fail. They cost nothing and make people happy. Especially me.

 

At this time, the Democrats still "own" the California Legislature and Governorship, so Republican opposition, even if it existed (this is not a "new spending" issue that the Republicans would object to), is irrelevant. By "own", I mean that if the Democrats vote as a block, that they have have a super-majority to pass things on their own without any Republican votes.

 

Yeah... well, I only posted that for those of us who don't watch FoxNews. California state spending has dropped over $12 billion per year over the past five years. Spending was $103 billion in Schwartznegger-era 2007-2008 and it's $91 billion in 2012-2013. So perhaps those Democrats who "own" the Legislature, as you say, and have trimmed spending by $12 billion might indeed vote differently if it cost money to implement this law.

I am not a big fan of all the Sacramento spending, but I don't fall for the "Republican good/Democrat bad" mentality (or vice-versa).

Let's get back to the car discussion and hope that both parties in Sacramento extend our green stickers.

 

Please don't infer anything about my political leanings from my post. Governor Brown has warned his party compatriots in the legislature to use their power to pass their favorite agenda very judiciously, or else face the wrath of the voters in the next election.

Back to topic:

I too would really like my HOV Decal #00005 have its lifetime extended! Are there any federal issues here? As I recall, these decal programs have to be approved by some federal agency.

 

Yes, it may need Federal approval, but they already approved it once, so there is little chance they will turn it down.

Also, CalTrans can reject them if they determine that the stickers cause too much congestion in the commuter lanes.

 

Any updates on this?

 

Well, that clears everything up.

 

Hope they act soon as this will help PiP sales. If it was me I would write a few emails. Not sure it does any good though.

I surprised to hear Federal approval needed. I am wondering if Virginia needs Federal approval for charging a fee to Hybrids. The main justification of our new fee is to re-capture lost Federal gasoline taxes which the Governor says the states normally get the monies back from the Feds.

 

Translation ?