Vehicles: combination length.

(1) Existing law prohibits any combination of vehicles coupled together, including any attachments, from exceeding a total length of 65 feet, with certain, specified exemptions. Existing law further exempts a combination of vehicles coupled together, including attachments from the specified length limitation, and authorizes the combination to have a length of not more than 75 feet if the combination consists of a truck tractor, a semitrailer, or a semitrailer or trailer, and the length of neither the semitrailer nor the trailer in the combination of vehicles exceeds 28 feet 6 inches. This bill would, until January 1, 2018, exempt from the length limitation a combination of vehicles coupled together, including attachments not more than 75 feet in total length that (1) consist of a motortruck and two trailers; (2) includes a trailer in the combination that does not exceed 28 feet 6 inches; (3) is used exclusively to transport agricultural products from the field to either the first point of handling and return or to a designated truck route and return, and each direction of transport does not exceed a specified amount of miles; (4) is not operated on a highway designated by the United States Department of Transportation as a national network route; (5) does not exceed a speed of 50 miles per hour when operating on a highway; (6) successfully completes a commercial vehicle safety alliance inspection conducted by the Department of the California Highway Patrol; and (7) operates on the highways only after the development of safe routing techniques, as specified. The bill would also limit the application of this exemption to the County of San Benito and to cities in that county upon adoption of the exemption by ordinance or resolution. The bill would require the Department of the California Highway Patrol, in consultation with the Department of Transportation, to conduct a study of the effect that the exemption has on public safety, as prescribed, and to report the results of the study to the Legislature and the Governor on or before April 1, 2014. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the need for special legislation. (3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency measure.