Opinion ID: 2677274
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statutory authorization of ATES

Text: Local governmental agencies are statutorily authorized to equip a traffic intersection with an ATES, if the system meets certain requirements. (Veh. Code, § 21455.5.) Specifically, the system must be identified by signs visible to approaching traffic that clearly indicate the system‘s presence and the traffic signal light governing the intersection must have a minimum yellow light change interval as set by the state Department of Transportation for the designated approach speed. (Veh. Code, § 21455.7.) A city council or county board of supervisors proposing to install an ATES within its jurisdiction must conduct a public hearing on the proposal prior to entering into a contract for the use of an ATES. (Veh. Code, § 21455.6, subd. (a).) If the proposal is adopted, the local jurisdiction must at each affected intersection ―commence a program to issue only warning notices for 30 days‖ and must ―also make a public announcement of the automated traffic enforcement system at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the enforcement program.‖ (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (b); see People v. Gray (2014) 58 Cal.4th 901, 904.) ―Only a governmental agency, in cooperation with a law enforcement agency, may operate‖ an ATES. (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (c).) To operate an ATES, the governmental agency, in cooperation with law enforcement, must develop uniform guidelines for screening and issuing violation citations, as well as for processing and storing confidential information. (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (c)(1).) It must establish procedures to ensure compliance with such guidelines. (Ibid.) The governmental agency, in cooperation with a law enforcement agency, must also (a) establish guidelines for selection of a location, (b) ensure that the equipment is regularly inspected, (c) certify that the equipment is properly 2 installed and calibrated and is operating properly, (d) regularly inspect and maintain the warning signs, (e) oversee the establishment or change of signal phases and signal timing, and (f) maintain controls necessary to ensure that only those citations that have been reviewed and approved by law enforcement are delivered to violators. (Id., subd. (c)(2)(A), (B), (C), (D), (E), & (F).) The statutory scheme allows the governmental agency to contract out these described operational activities or duties ―if it maintains overall control and supervision of the system.‖ (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (d).) But this is subject to an important qualification. The governmental agency may not contract out to ―the manufacturer or supplier of the automated traffic enforcement system‖ certain of the described duties. (Ibid. [providing that the activities specified in Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (c)(1) & (2)(A), (D), (E), & (F) may not be contracted out to the ATES manufacturer or supplier].) The only duties that may be contracted out to the ATES manufacturer or supplier are the activities of ―[e]nsuring that the equipment is regularly inspected‖ and ―[c]ertifying that the equipment is properly installed and calibrated, and is operating properly.‖ (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subds. (c)(2)(B), (C), (d).) A contract between a governmental agency and an ATES manufacturer or supplier entered into, renewed, extended or amended on or after January 1, 2004, is statutorily prohibited from including a ―provision for the payment or compensation to the manufacturer or supplier based on the number of citations generated, or as a percentage of the revenue generated, as a result of the use of the equipment.‖ (Veh. Code, § 21455.5, subd. (h)(1); see id., former subd. (g), as amended by Stats. 2003, ch. 511, § 1, p. 3925 [applicable at the time of defendant‘s citation].) 3