Cal. Veh. Code § 40245
Procedure on Photographic Imaging of Parking Violations Occurring in Bicycle Lanes
Redline — January 1, 2011 → current.View current text →
Current — January 1, 2023
As of January 1, 2011
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Streetsweepers operating throughout our nation and the world remove from streets and roads unnecessary pollutants, contaminants, chemicals, trash, and debris, which provides significant environmental and sanitation benefits, thereby protecting the environment and contributing to the health of people in communities worldwide.
(2) Each year, illegally parked private cars, trucks, and service vehicles on local streets and roads disrupt full street sweeping of as many as three parking spaces per illegally parked vehicle, resulting in significant debris, grease, oil, and other pollutants being needlessly washed into the stormwater drains.
(3) A major benefit of street sweeping, especially in more urbanized areas with higher areas of paving, is that by capturing pollutants before they are made soluble by rainwater, the need for stormwater treatment practices, which can be very costly when compared to collecting pollutants before they become soluble, may be reduced.
(4) According to an analysis by the District of Columbia Department of Public Works, an average of 10 pounds of oil and grease, three pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus, and up to two pounds of heavy metals are typically removed per mile swept of local streets and roads through street sweeping.
(5) According to an August 2004 technical report on “Trash Best Management Practices” submitted by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, street sweeping and stricter enforcement of no parking regulations should “be utilized to the maximum extent practicable” to help prevent trash, litter, and other harmful pollutants from getting into the stormwater drain system.
(6) According to a July 2007 technical report titled “Trash Total Maximum Daily Loads for the Los Angeles River Watershed,” stormwater drain discharges are the “primary source of trash” in the waterbodies of the Los Angeles River Watershed, whereby unswept street litter is washed through the storm drain sewers into the Los Angeles River, the Estuary, the beaches at Long Beach, and the Pacific Ocean.
(7) In August 2007, after extensive studies, public meetings, and economic benefit analysis, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted a phased-in goal of “zero” discharges of manmade trash in the Los Angeles River Watershed by 2016, a goal that was subsequently approved by the State Water Resources Control Board in April 2008 and the United States Environmental Protection Agency in July 2008.
(8) Cities such as Chicago and Washington D.C. already utilize automated parking enforcement systems mounted on their local public agency-owned or local public agency-operated streetsweepers to enforce existing regulations and improve compliance with street-sweeping regulations, which benefits the environment by helping reduce waste and pollutants from entering stormwater drain systems.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that a citation shall be issued, under the provisions of this article, only for violations captured during the designated hours of operation for a street-sweeping parking lane. It is also the intent of the Legislature that a citation shall not be issued, under the provisions of this article, for a vehicle that is parked on the street during the designated hours of operation for a street-sweeping parking lane when the vehicle is parked on the street after the street has been cleaned by a streetsweeper.
(c) It is also the intent of the Legislature that this article shall provide a single statewide standard for the use of camera enforcement technology on streetsweepers to help ensure continuity in program implementation and enforcement by local public agencies that desire to implement camera enforcement systems, including prohibiting the use of information read from license plates for any other purpose, establishing appropriate context supporting the violation that ensures individual privacy is maintained, and ensuring confidential data is disposed of properly, adequately, and safely after final disposition.
(d) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to allow local public agency-owned or local public agency-operated streetsweepers to utilize automated parking enforcement systems for the purpose of digital photographing of street-sweeping parking violations for vehicles that are illegally parked during the designated hours of operation in a street-sweeping parking lane, thus serving the public interest by benefiting the environment, improving water quality, decreasing stormwater drain runoff, and helping reduce ongoing habitat deterioration.
(a) A local agency may install automated forward facing parking control devices on city-owned or district-owned parking enforcement vehicles for the purpose of taking photographs of parking violations occurring in bicycle lanes, as described in Section 21207. The devices shall be angled and focused so as to only capture photographs of parking violations and not capture identifying images of other drivers, vehicles, and pedestrians. The devices shall record the date and time of the violation at the same time as the photographs are captured. A local agency may only install forward facing cameras pursuant to this section if the examiner or issuing agency, as described in Section 40215, includes options to reduce or waive the payment of a parking penalty if the examiner or issuing agency determines that the person is an indigent person as defined in Section 40220.
(b) Prior to issuing notices of parking violations pursuant to Section 21211, a local agency shall commence a program to issue only warning notices for 60 days and shall also make a public announcement of the program and provide the public with information about the enforcement program, existing parking regulations, and the payment options available for low-income persons at least 60 days prior to commencement of issuing notices of parking violations.
(c) A designated employee of a city, county, city and county, or a contracted law enforcement agency for a special transit district, who is qualified by a city, county, city and county, or district to issue parking citations, shall review photographs for the purpose of determining whether a parking violation occurred in a bicycle lane. A violation of a statute, regulation, or ordinance governing vehicle parking under this code, under a federal or state statute or regulation, or under an ordinance enacted by a city, county, city and county, or special transit district occurring in a bicycle lane observed by the designated employee in the recordings is subject to a civil penalty.
(d) The registered owner shall be permitted to review the photographic evidence of the alleged violation during normal business hours at no cost.
(e) (1) Except as it may be included in court records described in Section 68152 of the Government Code, or as provided in paragraph (2), the photographic evidence may be retained for up to 30 days after final disposition of the citation. The photographic evidence shall not be retained for more than six months from the date the information was first obtained, after which time the information shall be destroyed.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 26202.6 of the Government Code, photographic evidence from forward facing automated enforcement devices that does not contain evidence of a parking violation occurring in a bicycle lane shall be destroyed within 15 days after the information was first obtained. Photographic data and records collected pursuant to this section shall not be used or processed by an automated license plate recognition system, as defined in Section 1798.90.5 of the Civil Code, unless the local agency meets the requirements of this subdivision, the requirements of subdivision (f), and the requirements of subdivision (e) of Section 40247.
(f) Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section 7922.500) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 7922.525) of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 10 of Title 1 of the Government Code, or any other law, the photographic records are confidential. Public agencies shall use and allow access to these records only for the purposes authorized by this article.
(g) For purposes of this article, “local agency” means a public transit operator as defined in Section 99210 of the Public Utilities Code or a local city, county, or city and county parking enforcement authority.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.