On September 1st the Senate and Appropriations Committee's met in order to dispense with their respective "suspense calendars" for legislative proposals." The suspense calendar is a designation given to any bill that will cost California more than $150,000. It is often one of the most watched days of the legislative year, because of the ability to quietly kill hundreds of pieces of legislation. 

 

This year, the California Trucking Association (CTA) was watching a few bills and waiting to learn their fate. Most eagerly was our sponsored bill, AB 301 by Assemblymember's Rodriguez and Patterson. AB 301 would have addressed the lengthy wait times at the DMV for a CDL skills test. As reported earlier, some DMV facilities wait times had reached nearly 3 months. Unfortunately, AB 301 was held, essentially killing it for this year, by the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

This effort was far from in vain though. Since AB 301's introduction wait timesfor drivers to take their skills test (drive test)  at DMV facilities have dramatically decreased to the point that every testing site is now under 20 days(compared to the 30-90 days it took previously). While there is still work to be done, DMV has shown a willingnessand commitment to undertake the issue and CTA will ensure that progress is continued and wait times continue to drop. As the old political saying goes, if you want an issue to get some attention introduce a bill and it usually forces people to "talk" about the issue and the saying held truefor CTA's sponsored proposal. In response to the introduction of AB 301, throughout the legislative session this year DMV made reducing the wait times at the DMV testing centers a priority. CTA is extremely disappointed that its sponsored legislation didn't make it off suspense, but the silver lining is that DMV is committed to ensure that wait times are being addressed. Make no mistake; CTA will tackle this issue again next session if wait times are still a problem. 

Another measure CTA had followed all year, SB 158 (Monning) which established a 30 hour behind the wheel training standard, was also held by Assembly Appropriations. Many of CTA's members had expressed concerns with a blanket standard, especially in regards to those who participate in the Employer Testing Program (ETP). To address these concerns, CTA negotiated amendments that decreased the number of behind the wheel training to 15 hours for participants of an ETP. The Senator expressed his thanks to CTA and its members for working with him on the bill.