A bill was passed in 2015 that was effective 1/1/16 that may impact your business!
Last year AB529 was passed and the Governor signed it into law. It dramatically changes the BIT program in California. BIT used to refer to the Biennial Inspection of Terminals. Some of us were subject to this BIT inspection by the CHP every two years because of our placarded vehicles that had to be enrolled in the program. The officer would schedule a visit to our facility when the vehicle was available. He would perform his own safety inspection of the vehicle, verify the past mandatory 90 day inspections by a qualified mechanic, which in many of our cases is performed by a local automotive shop using the proper forms, review the driving log book and verify the mandatory drug/alcohol tests on the haz mat drivers.
AB529 has now expanded the inspection to all terminals where vehicles are being operated that are over 10,000 # GVW. This will include ¾ and 1 ton service trucks and possibly some vans. The CHP is ramping up to enforce this new law but as with many of these type changes there is a lot of confusion.
One of our members received a call from the local CHP wanting to schedule an inspection as a result of AB529 at a location where there are 3 service vans located. These are your typical Chevy ¾ ton vans with a GVW of 8,600#. When the officer was questioned on why this facility would require inspection when no 10,000# + GVW vehicles were being operated they were told that the location appeared on a haz mat listing and regardless of the absence of 10,000# + GVW vehicles the inspection would still take place. Calls to other CHP offices resulted in different interpretations of the necessity for the inspection.
When asked what was going to be inspected, they were told the vehicle, its safety inspections and drivers hours of work. Keep in mind these are not placarded trucks. He said they would be looking to review the documentation verifying the 90 day inspections were being performed as well as looking at time cards of those drivers to insure there are no driving hour infractions. This is going to be crazy! Most of us are not having a documented 90 day 40 point inspections being done (your local lube vendor is not likely able to make that certification) and there will be many who will be a risk with driving hours when an employee is driving home after working OT or DT.
The CHP seems to be divided on how to interpret or implement this new law. I am sure there is a lot more horror stories we will hear and a lot more expense we will incur. When you get your call from your local CHP to schedule an inspection, forewarned is forearmed.
If you are one of “lucky” ones that is called by the CHP please let us know how it went so we can advise other members what to expect.