Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 74
CHAPTER 113
Relative to hybrid electric vehicles.
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Filed with
Secretary of State
July 08, 2004.
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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 74, Pavley.
Hybrid electric vehicles.
This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress to take legislative action to allow single-occupant hybrid electric vehicles that achieve a fuel economy highway rating of at least 45 miles per gallon, and conform to any additional emissions category of the federal Environmental Protection Agency or the California Air Resources Board, or meet any other requirements identified by the responsible agency, to travel in California’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, The price for gasoline has reached record levels in California, climbing to an all-time high in Los Angeles and the bay area, and potentially rising even higher during the summer; and
WHEREAS, Increasing gasoline prices can have a negative impact on California’s economy because rising oil prices drive up the average cost of production of goods and services throughout the economy and reduce the real income of consumers through higher fuel prices; and
WHEREAS, California is susceptible to chronic price spikes in gasoline due to tight supplies of refined gasoline and a lack of competition among the companies that produce and sell gasoline; and
WHEREAS, California’s demand for petroleum transportation fuels will continue to grow, and is expected to increase by 50 percent in the next 20 years, as the number of registered vehicles in California increases to 31.5 million by the year 2020; and
WHEREAS, California’s refining capacity has not been able to keep up with the growing demand for transportation fuels and is increasingly dependent on the importation of foreign crude oil, much of which comes from politically unstable regions of the world; and
WHEREAS, This growing dependence on oil from unstable regions makes the state’s economy more vulnerable to external disruptions and volatile fuel prices; and
WHEREAS, Increasing use of petroleum fuels results in additional climate change emissions including carbon dioxide, and global climate change is projected to cause environmental and economic damage to California; and
WHEREAS, Increasing use of gasoline causes a decline in air quality, thereby adversely affecting public health; and
WHEREAS, The world supply of petroleum is expected to fall short of demand after the year 2020, causing the price of petroleum products to increase significantly; and
WHEREAS, On-road fuel economy of cars and light-duty trucks has remained relatively constant since 1985, and has actually decreased in years as consumers purchase greater percentages of sport utility vehicles; and
WHEREAS, Most technological improvements to engines and vehicles have been used to increase performance and overcome gains in weight, rather than to improve fuel economy; and
WHEREAS, Californians would consume 30 percent less gasoline by 2020 if fuel efficiency in new model light-duty vehicles were doubled to at least 40 miles per gallon, and that reduction in gasoline consumption would result in increased air quality throughout the state as well as a reduction in the state’s dependency on foreign sources of petroleum; and
WHEREAS, Hybrid electric drive train technology can significantly increase vehicle fuel efficiency and, simultaneously, greatly reduce a vehicle’s smog-forming emissions; and
WHEREAS, Several vehicle models, using hybrid electric drive train technology that achieves at least 45 miles per gallon and as much as 70 miles per gallon fuel efficiency ratings, are readily available to consumers in California; and
WHEREAS, Californians would greatly reduce their gasoline dependence, improve their own economic condition, and significantly better the environment and public health if they were to embrace the use of hybrid electric vehicles that achieve at least 45 miles per gallon ratings; and
WHEREAS, The primary purpose of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes is to relieve traffic congestion by offering persons who carpool an easier commute; and
WHEREAS, In many instances, California’s HOV lanes have excess capacity that could allow them to accommodate single-occupant hybrid electric vehicles temporarily, without degrading the HOV lanes’ traffic flow or diminishing their attractiveness to carpools; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the President and the Congress of the United States of America are urged to take legislative action to allow single-occupant hybrid electric vehicles that achieve a fuel economy highway rating of at least 45 miles per gallon, and conform to any additional emissions category of the federal Environmental Protection Agency or the California Air Resources Board, or meet any other requirements identified by the responsible agency, to travel in California’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.