Transportation: motorist aid services.

Existing law authorizes the establishment of a service authority for freeway emergencies in any county if the board of supervisors of the county and the city councils of a majority of the cities within the county adopt resolutions providing for the establishment of the service authority. Existing law authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to function as the service authority for freeway emergencies in the San Francisco Bay area counties upon adoption of a resolution, as specified. Existing law authorizes a service authority to impose a fee of $1 per year on vehicles registered in the counties served by the service authority. Existing law requires moneys received by a service authority to be used for the implementation, maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid system of call boxes and authorizes moneys received by a service authority in excess of what is needed for that system to be used for additional motorist aid services, including, among other things, changeable message signs and lighting for call boxes. Existing law requires any plan or amendment to a plan for a motorist aid system of call boxes for any state highway route to be approved by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. This bill would authorize those service authorities to be established for freeway and expressway services, instead of only freeway emergencies, and would revise the provisions authorizing excess moneys to be used for additional motorist aid services to authorize those moneys to be used for the implementation, maintenance, and operation of systems, projects, and programs to aid and assist motorists, including, among other things, freeway service patrol, mobile roadside assistance systems, intelligent transportation systems, and traveler information systems. The bill would authorize the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to place call boxes to assist motorists in specified parking or roadway areas in mutually agreed upon state and federal parks and would require the agreement for the placement of those call boxes to contain specified terms relative to responsibilities for the installation and maintenance of call boxes and for call handling. The bill would authorize a service authority to impose a fee of up to $2 per year on vehicles registered in the counties served by the service authority. The bill would provide that any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid network of call boxes adopted by a service authority shall be deemed to be approved by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol unless rejected within 60 days of receipt of the amendment.