California Hybrids Move Closer To Car Pool Lanes August 2004

The California Senate has approved a bill that would allow hybrid vehicles use car-pool lanes even if the driver is the car's only occupant and thus would not meet occupancy requirements.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill, but before drivers can change lanes, Congress will have to finally pass this year's highway funding bill, which contains a clause permitting use of car-pool lanes by hybrids carrying fewer passengers than would otherwise qualify. Federal approval is required because federal funds are used in the construction of car-pool lanes.

The California Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 29-7 vote Tuesday. A similar bill was approved earlier by the Assembly. It now must go back to the Assembly on a procedural matter before it goes to the governor. The bill's sponsors include state Treasurer Phil Angelides, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board.

AB 2628 would allow hybrid and other advanced-technology vehicles that meet tough emissions and fuel-efficiency standards (45 miles per gallon or greater efficiency) access to California's high-occupancy vehicle, or car-pool, lanes, regardless of the number of people in the vehicle. The hybrid vehicles that would be eligible today would include the Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius. As new hybrid and other advanced-technology vehicles are developed, they too will become eligible if they meet the strictest emissions and fuel-efficiency standards.

SOURCE: Sacramento Business Journal

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