State Watch – December 2024/January 2025
As the new year approaches, OOIDA is focused on providing truckers with information on important legislation during the coming year. In the next few months, state lawmakers from all corners of the country will rapidly add to the list by offering new bills.
Not all of them will be covered on these pages, but readers will be able to find many bills of significance to their trucking business. Here’s our roundup of noteworthy issues addressed by governors in recent weeks and the latest activity on other notable efforts.
For a complete rundown of state legislation, visit LandLine.media.
California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill that is touted to increase the state’s regulation of warehouses. The new law also covers truck routes into warehouses.
The rules included in AB98 apply statewide, but the focus is on California’s Inland Empire.
Key provisions in the new law include establishment of buffer zones between warehouses and “sensitive areas” that include homes, schools and daycare centers. Also covered is establishment of truck routes that avoid residential areas.
Local governments are required to create a truck routing plan to and from the state highway system.
Truck routes must be updated throughout the state to reduce truck idling and to prevent the routes from cutting through residential areas. During these updates, local governments are required to maximize the use of interstate or state divided highways as preferred routes.
Truck loading bays must be at least 500 feet from the property line of the nearest sensitive area. A separate entrance for heavy-duty trucks must be accessible “via a truck route, arterial road, major thoroughfare or a local road that predominantly serves commercial-oriented uses.”
The new law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Cities and counties must update their circulation elements (identifying and establishing truck routes) by January 2028.
For the second straight year, Newsom vetoed a bill to prohibit autonomous vehicle operation with a gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds for testing purposes, transporting goods or transporting passengers without a “human safety operator physically present” in the vehicle during operation.
AB2286 stated that the rule would have been in place until a state legislative evaluation of autonomous vehicle technology was complete.
Another vetoed bill would have required passenger vehicles manufactured or sold in the state to be equipped with “passive intelligent speed assistance.”
SB961 defined the technology as “an integrated vehicle system that determines the speed limit of the roadway the vehicle is traveling on and utilizes a brief, one-time visual and audio signal to alert the driver each time the driver exceeds the speed limit by more than 10 mph.”
All new vehicles would have been required to be equipped with the passive system by 2030.
New Jersey
Concern in New Jersey about electric vehicle mandates spurred state lawmakers to introduce legislation in October that would delay implementation of the Advanced Clean Trucks electric vehicle mandate.
The Advanced Clean Trucks regulation is scheduled to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2025.
The truck regulation requires manufacturers of medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles, capping at 40% to 75% annual sales in 2035, depending on the type of vehicle sold.
S3817 and A4967 would delay implementation of the truck regulation until at least Jan. 1, 2027.
New York
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill to expand the use of red-light cameras in New York City.
Since 1994, the New York City program has enabled the use of red-light cameras at 150 intersections.
Previously S2812, the new law renews and expands the city’s red-light camera program to permit 600 intersections to be posted with the devices.
The new law also extends programs in the cities of Albany, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains, as well as in Nassau County. A new program will be created in the town of Greenburgh. LL