Two Major Bills that Impact the Trucking Industry Advance

Last week, the California State Legislature completed a deadline called the House of Origin Deadline. This deadline requires a piece of legislation to pass the house it begins in (House or Senate), in order for the bill to move forward in the legislative process. House of Origin is one of the biggest tests in the legislative process and provides one of the best opportunities to see if a bill is viable enough to be signed into law.

Two noteworthy bills that CTA has been actively engaged on that passed their House of Origin are: Assembly Bill (AB) 5 and Senate Bill (SB) 210.

AB 5, authored by Asm. Gonzalez, passed the Assembly Floor by a vote of 59-15 and now moves to the Senate. It will be heard in the Senate Labor Committee in June. The bill would codify the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision into law and make it nearly impossible for independent truckers to run in California. CTA has remained opposed to the bill, but is continuing to engage in discussions with the Legislature on the bill and find a resolution for the trucking industry.

During Asm. Gonzalez’s presentation of AB 5, she said the bill is “still a work in progress and she will continue to work with all affected industries as the bill moves forward”. Asm. Gonzalez said that “trucking is one of the most complex and difficult industries to address, and she is fully committed to continuing discussions with the trucking industry and coming to a resolution on AB 5”. Several legislators also spoke in support of a resolution for trucking owner-operators in the bill.

SB 210, authored by Sen. Leyva, passed the Senate Floor by a vote of 27-10. SB 210 creates the first of its kind smog check program for heavy duty trucks. CTA has been actively engaged on SB 210 for the last 3 years and is currently in negotiations with Senator Leyva on the bill. The author has already taken CTA amendments that add in several government and legislative oversight components, along with sun-setting the current Periodic-Smoke Inspection program, to ensure California Air Resources Board (CARB) is held in check while developing the regulations for this new program.

Senator Leyva has taken every amendment CTA has requested, except the most important one. The author still has not removed language from the bill that would give CARB unlimited fee authority to implement the smog check program. As SB 210 moves to the Assembly Transportation Committee, CTA staff is hopeful that they will come to an agreement with the Senator on this key issue.

AB 5 and SB 210 are just two bills that CTA staff are following that directly affect the trucking industry. However, there are many other bills that impact the trucking industry that CTA is following. If would like information on these bills, email CTA’s Director of Legislative Affairs, Matt Roman, at mroman@caltrux.org.