HOV Congressional Approval is a Reality!

[berryman]

Now that the bill has passed both houses, how and when will we be able to acquire stickers for our cars here in California? What's the process??

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Hybrids' carpool waiver in doubt
Bad news for California hybrid car owners who have been eagerly awaiting the day they can scoot into freeway carpool lanes as solo drivers. State officials now say they aren't sure the new federal transportation act, passed by Congress Friday, gives them the go-ahead to allow high-mileage, gas-electric cars into carpool lanes.[/size]
www.sacbee.com[/color]
Must register for full story.

This was a rude awakening! :x

[berryman]

That sucks! Politicians - you got to love em - - - -

[inventor00]

To get into news sites without giving them your info (from a PC World columnist) use BugMeNot.com to get a login.

[inventor00]

From Sacremento Bee

Hybrids' carpool waiver in doubt
By Tony Bizjak -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, July 30, 2005
Story appeared on Page A1 of The Bee
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Bad news for California hybrid car owners who have been eagerly awaiting the day they can scoot into freeway carpool lanes as solo drivers.
State officials now say they aren't sure the new federal transportation act, passed by Congress Friday, gives them the go-ahead to allow high-mileage, gas-electric cars into carpool lanes.



State law signed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the state's intent to allow hybrid cars that top 45 miles per gallon, such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight Hybrid, to use diamond lanes during commute hours with a single occupant.

California's hybrid owners have been stuck in idle for months awaiting approval from federal officials, who set the rules on federal highway usage.

Friday's federal transportation bill does include an OK on the 45 mpg standard established by California law, officials said.

But it doesn't explicitly give California the go-ahead to implement a low-exhaust emission standard also included in the new state law.

Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, author of the California law, said she put the low-emissions standard in her bill as an important safeguard so that other solo motorists of high-mileage, but less-clean vehicles wouldn't take advantage of the law to use carpool lanes.

"My reason was to promote not just fuel-efficient vehicles, but (specifically) vehicles that greatly reduce air pollution," Pavley said Friday.

Attorneys with the state Air Resources Board were reviewing the federal bill Friday and conferring with federal transportation officials to see if California can go ahead - even without an explicit federal OK on the emissions issue.

"The bottom line is we frankly don't know yet," ARB spokesman Jerry Martin said Friday.

Meanwhile, the federal transportation bill, which provides $286.4 billion for projects nationally over a six-year period, was sent to President Bush, who is expected to sign it into law in the coming weeks.

If the hybrid bill's emissions glitch is resolved by the time Bush signs the bill, state Department of Motor Vehicles officials say they are ready to implement a windshield sticker system for qualifying car owners.

"That's half good news," said Holly Brickner, a Sacramento real estate agent who owns three hybrid vehicles and calls them guilt-free cars. "Any way government can incentivize people to purchase hybrids makes sense."

She is among thousands who have made hybrid cars a cult trend in California in the last year.

Gas-electric hybrid vehicles save fuel and reduce pollution by switching at certain speeds from a gas to an electric motor under the hood. The electric motor self-charges while the vehicle is in operation.

The Pavley bill, which became California law Jan. 1, goes out of existence at the end of 2007, when Pavley said she hopes there will be many more Californians driving hybrids. So far, Toyota reports it has sold 50,000 Prius models in California, making it the state's top-selling hybrid, but still a tiny portion of overall vehicle sales.

State law allows officials to limit carpool lane stickers to 75,000.

Nevertheless, some transportation advocates in metropolitan areas, such as the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, have complained the law could clog carpool lanes, making them less useful for buses and carpoolers.

[agile pagile]

Thanks inventor00 for the bug me not website. You are awesome! That will save me a lot of trouble. thanks again, Agile Pagile

[Godiva]

I'm no lawyer, and any resident LAWYERS can correct me but I'd say yes.

A State cannot "loosen" a Federal Law. I.E. change it to 40 mpg instead of 45 mjg.

But a State has the right to add restrictions. I.E. add the clean emissions thing.

How do I know?

Remember the New London vs. Kelo stink over eminent domain?

Well, plenty of states have stricter eminent domain laws regarding blight and public use.

So I'd say the California Law stands and we get to drive in the HOV.

[Godiva]

And there's another delay:

Hybrid cars collide

"Additionally, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has 180 days after the federal bill is signed into law to come up with a definition of an energy-efficient vehicle."

So we've got a wait of up to 180 day after Bush signs it (which he has not done yet) until it goes into effect. Hopefully California will resolve their problems at the same time and the DMV will be ready so when it all comes together, the forms are up and it goes fast.

Anyone think it will be 2006 before it's all straightened out?

[Godiva]

Or maybe not.

Hybrid drivers can soon drive in carpool lanes.

California owners of three hybrid car models will soon be able to drive solo in the carpool lane on state freeways thanks to a provision in the highway bill passed by Congress today that President George Bush has said he will sign.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall said state officials have been waiting for the federal legislation before allowing solo drivers of the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic hybrid or Honda Insight into the state's carpool lanes.

"That is the last piece of the puzzle,'' Marshall said. "The next step is the DMV issuing stickers that you put in the window of your car.''

Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Steve Hawkins said the DMV would begin issuing the stickers once the president actually signs the bill.

Qualifying hybrid owners can download DMV form Reg-1000 at www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg1000.pdf.

"You can either mail it in or if you live in San Jose or Los Angeles you can go into a DMV office there and get your sticker,'' Hawkins said.

The DMV has already printed the stickers so they will begin issuing them almost immediately after Bush signs the highway bill "at most within a day or two,'' Hawkins said.

Copyright 2005 by Bay City News, Inc. Replication, republication or retransmission without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file...29/hybrid29.DTL

I think this writer is more accurate. I don't see anything in the Federal Highway bill that doesn't allow California to have further restrictions on what cars can use the HOV lanes. After all, some states don't allow hybrids in the HOV lanes at all. The Feds can't force them to allow it. Only set up a minimum guideline for allowance. And if the states want to add to that minimum, they can.

I am particularly please that the stickers are already printed and the DMV is ready to go so quickly. I was thinking it would be weeks just to get a form.

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

I think this writer is more accurate. I don't see anything in the Federal Highway bill that doesn't allow California to have further restrictions on what cars can use the HOV lanes.

Spokesmen for the CHP and DMV are hardly what I would consider as final word on when or if the permits will be issued. The CHP and DMV do as the California State Legislature and California State Air Resources Board tell them.

If the attorneys at the ARB are saying, "The bottom line is we frankly don't know yet” and just yesterday the author of the bill, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, was explaining why she included the disputed language . . . I’d say the Sacramento Bee writer is the one who is more accurate.

I hope it all becomes a moot point real soon.