New Green Sticker Limit

Yeah... I know I may be biased being in the position of on-the-verge-of-getting-(or-not-getting)-a-sticker-in-time-for-40k, but the ultimate and original purpose of the decals was to achieve clean air by granting stickers as incentives, not to create a permanently-entrenched 2-class system of privileged drivers over non-privileged drivers. The latter is a transient effect but not the actual objective.

I say this because if the 40k cap is maintained, a certain portion of the population will feel much less motivation to make their next vehicle purchase a hybrid or EV. I'd also imagine demand for Plug-Ins dropping quite a bit. (I know mine will suddenly feel much less valuable than the price we paid for it.)

Bearing this in mind, the HOV lanes becoming congested isn't such a bad thing considering that many more drivers (in one of the most populous states with the most road traffic and thus pollution concerns) will be on cleaner vehicles.

They could also just convert more lanes to HOV, either during certain hours or all hours. The desire of some transit agency to extract additional payment on top of taxes already paid seems like an extremely douchey move..

 

...Interesting, I seem to notice a resemblance between some of these PriusChat posts and a recent update to the WikiPedia article on Plug_ins in CA:
Plug-in hybrids in California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anyways if that guy is listening, correction on the Volt photo should say Volt gets $7500 (not $2500) federal credit.

Like CA, VA/DC Beltway has new HOT-3 lanes which do not allow free single occupant. I am wondering if VA should say HOT-2 for cleans fuels vehicles.

 

This week's failure of AB2013 to move out of the Assembly is reportedly due to an entirely unrelated political squabble between African-American and Latino Democrats and Asian-Americans like the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi.

Asian lawmakers had opposed a proposed constitutional amendment to restore affirmative action in public colleges.

So chances are, AB2013 will move forward one way or another. For example, Muratsuchi could remove the urgency provision and would then need only a majority to send the bill to the Senate, where the provision could be restored.

 

Rightly so. All discrimination based on race, religion, or other non-performance based criteria should be opposed. This issue is much more urgent than hybrid cars being allowed in carpool lanes. The fact that it's the 21st century and we still have state sponsored discrimination is shameful.

I'm surprised the lobbyists haven't figured out how to bribe our politicians into quicker action. Perhaps they're getting stingy with their "political contributions"?

 

After the recent scandals involving three CA state senators, the most recent up on corruption charges for accepting bribes and with close ties to the local asian community, state politicians may be understandably concernef about even remote appearances to bribery.

 

Not to worry, the politicians will find a way. They didn't spend all that money to get elected because they're concerned about your welfare.

 

It hasn't stopped them before.
They are more worried about be connected to the accused senators than being connected to lobbyists.

Mike

 

Not to go further off topic, but I respectfully disagree. By your statement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, myriad SCOTUS decisions and ANTI-discrimination laws should be tossed out.

I guess you're for privatized discrimination, which would be okay why?

 

+1

-1 - not on the substance, but can we get back on topic?

Three topics guaranteed to rile up a thread - politics, sex/race and religion. Got two out of three here.

Probably should stay away from "My car is better than yours," too - but that goes with the territory here.

 

I'll briefly answer this here by saying that I am for performance based discrimination, against race/gender/sexual orientation discrimination, and a champion of liberty. Because I value liberty, I recognize that individuals may dislike others for no good reason, and that is their right. Their private decision to exclude people for any reason should not be abridged. While some would behave distastefully, the free market would ensure that things run pretty much as they are now.

I invite anyone that may enlighten me to a better way of thinking to PM me, or direct me to another thread in the appropriate forum.

 

And legislation should probably only be discussed in terms of its consequences on us as Prius drivers and enthusiasts.

Apologies for sort of starting us down this detour.. I do hope I won't be left out in the cold on the HOV decal thing though..

 

It appears that the last few HOV stickers are not going away as fast as we **thought** that they would.
(Cutting off the pre-orders by dealers seems to have had a significant effect.)

From the ARB website:
As of April 14, 2014, 38,803 "green" stickers have been issued.
As of March 28, 2014, 38,179 "green" stickers had been issued.


So, DMV apparently only issued 624 stickers from 3/28 until 4/14 –
which means that there are 1,197 remaining, as of last Monday.

Bottom line: We **may** still be able to get HOV stickers for a few customers who buy qualifying cars that currently do not have them.
(But we should, of course, be VERY CAREFUL to fully disclose the risk of NOT being able to get them.)

 

I now have enough posts on this forum to qualify for posting links!

So, here is a direct link to the ARB website: Eligible Vehicles - Single Occupant Carpool Lane Use Stickers

 

As of April 21, 2014, 39,112 "green" stickers have been issued. Green stickers are valid through January 1, 2019. (according to the ARB link above).

 

Current sticker issuance and progress toward the 40,000 limit is thoroughly discussed toward the end of this thread. More info there.

 

AB2013 passed the Assembly yesterday and now goes to the Senate. It had been held up by an unrelated political issue.

Now it goes to the Senate. I'm guessing it will get to the governor expeditiously, and there's little point in his vetoing it since it will already have gotten a 2/3 vote due to the urgency clause.

 

Here is an update, from 5/5/14:
CA Close To Extending Green HOV-Lane Sticker Program As AB-2013 Passed to Senate

...Introduced to the Assembly on February 20, Assembly Bill AB-2013 seeks to immediately increase the number of Green HOV lane stickers available to Californian residents from the original 40,000 stickers to 85,000 stickers. Pushed through the Assembly committee for Transportation and Assembly committee for Appropriations in double-quick time, it passed the Californian Assembly Floor on Friday with a vote of 63 Aye to 4 Noes and 12 NVR...

...From here, the bill has already been passed to the Senate, where it was read for the first time on Friday. It is currently awaiting attention by the Senate Committee on Rules, but is expected to be passed and voted into law in the coming few days or weeks.​

 

Huh. Not really related, but why are affirmatives Ayes, but negatives not Nays?

 

Californians say soda, but not pop, so it could be a regional thing. I say "yeah" but never "naw".

 

The first time I heard someone say "pop" I thought they were talking about the pop rocks candy