Charter-party carriers: busdrivers.

(1) The Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission. The act makes it unlawful, among other things, for the owner of a charter-party carrier of passengers to permit the operation of any vehicle upon any public highway for compensation without having obtained from the commission a certificate or permit, as specified, pursuant to the act. This bill would require the commission to permanently revoke the authority to operate a charter-party carrier or to permanently bar from receiving a permit or certificate from the commission a charter-party carrier that, among other things, operates a bus without having been issued a permit from the commission, operates a bus with a permit that was suspended by the commission for specified reasons, has one or more buses improperly registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles, or knowingly employs a busdriver who has not been issued the required driver's license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate to drive a bus. The bill also would suspend for a period of 5 years a person who drives a bus for a charter-party carrier without having been issued the proper driver's license of the proper class, passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate from driving a bus of any kind. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to refuse to issue or renew, or to suspend or revoke, that person's passenger vehicle endorsement and would provide that such a person would be ineligible for a passenger vehicle endorsement that would permit him or her to drive a bus, as defined, for 5 years. The bill would also authorize a charter-party carrier subject to the bar described above, that has received a notice of refusal or revocation of its permit to operate pursuant to these provisions, to submit a written request for a specified hearing within 15 days after the mailing of the notice. The bill would authorize an officer of the Department of the California Highway Patrol to impound a bus of a charter-party carrier that is operating a bus without having been issued a permit or certificate from the commission, operates a bus with a suspended permit or certificate from the commission, or is operating a bus that is being driven by a driver to whom the appropriate driver's license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate has not been issued. The bill would also prohibit the commission from issuing a new permit or certificate to operate a charter-party carrier if an officer, director, or owner of that charter-party carrier was an officer, director, or owner of a charter-party carrier that had its authority to operate as a charter-party carrier permanently revoked by the commission or was permanently barred from receiving a permit or certificate from the commission pursuant to these provisions. (2) Under existing law, a violation of the Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act, or a violation of an order or direction of the commission issued pursuant to the act, is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of those provisions or of an order or decision of the commission implementing those provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (3) Existing law requires the clerk of a court in which a person was convicted of a violation of the Vehicle Code to prepare within 5 days after conviction and immediately forward to the Department of Motor Vehicles an abstract of the record of the court covering the case in which the person was so convicted. This bill would expand the Vehicle Code violations that the clerk of a court is required to report to the department to include violations of specified provisions of the Public Utilities Code, which include driving a bus for a charter-party carrier without having a current and valid driver's license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate, as specified. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1803 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 134, that would become operative only if AB 134 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is chaptered last. (5) This bill would become operative only if AB 951 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2010. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.