Section 40245.

(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.

(Added by Stats. 2010, Ch. 471, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2011. Repealed as of January 1, 2016, pursuant to Section 40249.5.)