Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 17
03/06/2008 01:00 PM House TRANSPORTATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB78 | |
| HB372 | |
| HB283 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 283 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 372 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 78 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 275 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 78-MOTOR VEHICLE WINDOW TINTING 1:06:15 PM CHAIR JOHANSEN announced that the first order of business would be CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 78(JUD) "An Act relating to the installation of window tinting in automobiles." SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of SB 78, testified there are three reasons why he believes this bill is necessary. First is for driver safety. Windows too darkly tinted can throw off a driver's depth perception, making the driver unsafe. Second is pedestrian and bicycle safety. Windows tinted too darkly make it impossible for a pedestrian or bicyclist to make eye contact with the driver and can lead to accidents. Third, and perhaps most important, is for officer safety. Windows too darkly tinted do not allow public safety officers to see inside the car when approaching it for a traffic stop, and what is inside that car can mean life or death to the officers. SENATOR FRENCH pointed out that it is currently against Alaska law for a driver to operate a vehicle on the road with windows that are too darkly tinted. However, it is not illegal for someone to install that tint that is too dark. He presumed the committee will hear from individuals who do this for a living. He said it is his belief that their complaint is, in essence, with the state law. That is, these individuals would like the law to be repealed and to have much looser regulations and statutes with respect to the amount of tint on a window. In any event, whatever level the committee eventually chooses for the level of tint, the installers should be required to comply with it, and that is what this bill asks them to do. It is the installers who are in the best position to apply the correct level of tint, thus protecting the consumer and the other public policy interests mentioned earlier. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired how this will be addressed for vehicles brought to Alaska with window tinting from less restrictive states, as often happens with members of the military. SENATOR FRENCH responded the bill is aimed at those businesses that install window tint for a living. He said he is not taking aim at the military members coming to Alaska. Nevertheless, when someone moves to Alaska, he or she becomes subject to Alaska's laws. The idea is not to burden military members or other people moving to Alaska. The law with respect to window tinting is a "fix-it ticket", he explained, which means the ticket goes away if the window tinting is removed. So, there is a mechanism in place to handle individual citizens. Senator French said he thinks businesses should follow the law like everyone else and not be allowed to harm a consumer by installing tint that is too dark and which will then leave the cost of removal on the consumer. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked whether the bill includes a transition time for members of the military coming to Alaska, such as not needing to have the tint removed for members who will be in the state for a short period of time. SENATOR FRENCH replied no, the bill applies to professional window tint installers. State law enforcement officers could address the reasonable application of traffic laws on citizens. CHAIR JOHANSEN understood the bill would apply to professional tint installers holding a business license. He presumed it would be up to law enforcement agencies to get any members of the public who installed the tint by themselves. SENATOR FRENCH answered someone gets caught when he or she is out on the road, at which time a fix-it ticket would be issued requiring the tint be peeled back to state law specifications. In the course of giving a ticket and conversing with the driver, an officer often finds out which shop installed the tint. This bill would allow the officer to make a visit to that shop and issue a citation if the installer does not cease installing tint that is too dark. Failure to do that would result in a citation, not jail. CHAIR JOHANSEN inquired whether the bill would extend to stores that sell [do-it-yourself] tinting kits. SENATOR FRENCH responded he did think about going wider, but he thought this is the most efficient application of the law and the most efficient use of officers' time. There are shops that do a large volume of business installing tint for a living, and it seemed that asking those individuals to comply with state law like everybody else was the most logical place. Possession of window tint is not likely to become a crime under state law, he said. CHAIR JOHANSEN surmised the impetus behind the bill is that this is not being enforced or it is a challenge for law officials to enforce it on individual automobiles. SENATOR FRENCH replied that 1,200 tickets were issued in Anchorage in 2006. Having the ability to go to the individuals installing the majority of those too-dark window tints would be the more efficient. REPRESENTATIVE KELLER maintained the bill reads like it would apply to anybody that installs tint, not just a business. SENATOR FRENCH answered the bill would apply to a person caught in the act in the garage. However, he said, he believes the likelihood of that crime coming to the attention of police is almost vanishingly small. What can be found out by issuing tickets to drivers and checking the yellow pages is who installs tint for a living. This law was requested through a community council meeting at which citizens stated they felt unsafe because cars with illegally dark windows were driving around their neighborhood. The citizens questioned why it is legal to install tint that is darker than state law allows and asked him if something could be done, he reported. CHAIR JOHANSEN inquired whether someone could be compelled to say where his or her tinting was done. SENATOR FRENCH responded everyone has the Fifth Amendment right not to answer. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN stated that the rub with him is the unaware individual who becomes a criminal by committing the "crime of improper installation" of window tinting. He asked what the penalty is for this. SENATOR FRENCH replied it is meant to be a violation and the maximum penalty is a $300 fine. No one will go to jail for window tinting. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired whether a fix-it ticket will generally be given rather than a fine. SENATOR FRENCH explained the fix-it ticket is for the driver on the street operating a vehicle with windows too darkly tinted. Installing the tint is another thing and the fix-it ticket would not apply. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked how many companies are doing this. SENATOR FRENCH answered there are at least two companies in Fairbanks and he thinks there are also companies in Anchorage. In further response to Representative Neuman, Senator French said he would get back to the committee on the number of companies in the state that do tinting. CHAIR JOHANSEN commented that probably any body shop in Ketchikan would install window tint. SENATOR FRENCH guessed a lot of detailers also do it, however there are a few shops that specialize in it. REPRESENTATIVE KELLER contended that on the scale of things that can be made illegal, he is wondering why this one. Does a trooper carry equipment that tests the window tinting, he asked. SENATOR FRENCH responded there is a tintometer. He acknowledged this is not the most serious bill that will ever be taken up, but pedestrians get hit, bicycles get run over, and a police officer was shot in the chest with an assault rifle from behind a window tinted so dark the officer could not see it coming. From time to time something horrible happens on the road due to windows that are too darkly tinted. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired whether a public safety vehicle with tinted windows would be immune from this. SENATOR FRENCH replied he does not know and thinks there is an exception in regulation, not statute. He deferred to the law officers. RODNEY DIAL, Lieutenant, Deputy Commander, A Detachment, Division of Alaska State Troopers, Department of Public Safety, presented a PowerPoint review of state and federal laws regarding window tint. He said under Alaska law: a front windshield may have a five-inch strip of tint, and this "eyebrow" has no restrictions as long as it is not mirrored; the front driver and passenger side windows must allow 70 percent Visible Light Transmission (VLT); all other rear windows must allow 40 percent VLT, with exemptions for buses, limousines, multi-purpose vehicles, and medical needs. He said he thinks this provision is what would exempt the special-use police vehicles. He noted that in his 18 years as a trooper he has never seen a law enforcement car that has had after-market window tinting applied to it. LIEUTENANT DIAL explained that federal law primarily sets the standard for vehicle manufacturers. States are allowed to set their own standards, and most state standards are pretty close to the federal standards. Federal law specifies a minimum of 70 percent VLT for the windshield and the driver's and passenger's side windows, but it does not specify any tinting requirements for any other windows. Although laws change constantly and vary among counties and cities, at least 13 other states have similar or more restrictive law than Alaska, about 90 percent of the Canadian provinces have a similar or more restrictive law. About five states allow 50 percent tint on the front side windows, and about 31 states range from about 20 percent to 40 percent VLT for the [front] side windows. Generally, he said, the hotter the climate, the greater the window tint allowed. LIEUTENANT DIAL noted that driving with tinted windows at night is essentially the same as driving with sunglasses on. General purpose sunglasses range from about 15 percent to 40 percent VLT. There are some would like Alaska's tinted window law to allow tints that only allow 30 percent VLT, he related. Under Alaska law tinting material for cars must be either green, grey, bronze, or smoke, and cannot be reflective or mirrored. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked why mirrored is not allowed. LIEUTENANT DIAL answered he does not know, but he guesses it is because of the distraction that could be posed to other drivers on a sunny day. LIEUTENANT DIAL addressed the question of, Do tinted windows really cause problems? He recounted the story of a police officer shot by a murder suspect inside a car with tinted windows who the officer was unable to see. Allowing increased tint in Alaska would prevent officers from having the ability to defend themselves initially from someone inside the car presenting a danger. He related an example in Chicago where police officers unable to see clearly through a tinted window mistakenly shot a passenger they thought had a gun, but it was a cell phone. Even moderate tint makes it extremely difficult to see into cars in low light conditions, he explained. 1:28:58 PM LIEUTENANT DIAL said there are numerous examples of criminals who were not identified because witnesses could not see the driver through tinted windows. Additionally, collisions with motor vehicles and pedestrians have been blamed on poor visibility due to tinted windows. He cited other examples of problems: tinted windows can hamper police in determining whether a vehicle's occupants are wearing seat belts, have their children properly protected in car seats, or are drinking out of an open container; heavy tints may also prevent other motorists from viewing the road ahead by looking through the cabins of cars in front of them, something many drivers do especially when roads are congested; and tinted windows can impair a driver's vision, particularly at night, making it difficult to see pedestrians and bicyclists. LIEUTENANT DIAL used a photo comparison of a Nissan Maxima with three different percentages of window tint to show how on a sunny day the interior of a car is obscured even with legal tint of 70 percent VLT. Regarding the car depicted with 30 percent VLT, he noted it is extremely difficult to see dark objects such as guns or to see what the driver is doing. He directed attention to the car with a 5 percent VLT, which is a limousine tint, and into which it was impossible to see anything even on a sunny day. He presented two real life photos of cars with tinted windows in Ketchikan and an industry photo of tinting. 1:32:23 PM LIEUTENANT DIAL stated there are reasons not to change the current law in Alaska: the state's current standards assure that Alaskan vehicles are in compliance with the tinted window laws in most states and Canadian provinces; the law allows for increased visibility for the driver, especially important during times when there is not a lot of sun; the law provides increased safety for pedestrians; and the law provides increased safety for law enforcement officers. LIEUTENANT DIAL testified that [the Department of Public Safety] supports SB 78 because: it protects the public from unethical installers who would tint a vehicle knowing that the installation is illegal; it will reduce the number of citations issued to motorists; and it will increase safety on Alaska's highways. He informed the committee that most new cars come from the factory with close to the legal amount of tint on the windows already. The bill would give the consumer legal recourse for being sold illegal tinting and the consumer could request the state troopers to issue a citation to the installer. Thus, SB 78 is a positive thing overall for the public. LIEUTENANT DIAL noted that many window tint citations result from making a contact or traffic stop for another reason, as too-dark window tinting itself is a low priority in most cases. When traffic stops are made on individuals who are known "bad guys", a ticket will be written for window tinting because troopers do not want these people to have tinted windows the next time they are stopped. 1:36:12 PM REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired whether window tinting is used as a primary offense for stopping a vehicle. LIEUTENANT DIAL responded it can be a primary offense. A heavy tint is obvious and easily identified. However, in his experience with the officers he supervises, it does not happen very often because no officer wants to make a bad stop when the tinting is marginal and have egg on his or her face if the tinting passes muster. He said it tends to happen when the vehicle is stopped for some other reason such as suspicion of committing a crime or some other traffic offense. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked whether rear window screens would be included on trucks. LIEUTENANT DIAL replied no. Trucks are considered multi-purpose vehicles and, technically, a pickup truck could have limousine tint on the back piece of glass. He explained that tint meters only work on windows that can be rolled down. Tint material on windshields is pretty much illegal anywhere in the country, he said. Therefore, troopers really only focus on the driver's and passenger's side windows. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN surmised it is only windshields and the front door windows that are being talked about. LIEUTENANT DIAL answered yes. In response to further questions from Representative Neuman, Lieutenant Dial stated a limousine is a special-use vehicle that is exempt from the requirements for the majority of the windows. He confirmed this would affect primarily passenger cars. However, he noted, special-use vehicles like limousines, as well as pickup trucks, still have to have the windshield at the federally mandated standard and also the front driver and passenger side windows. 1:39:51 PM MATT BLOODGOOD, Sergeant, Traffic Unit, Anchorage Police Department, related that during his years of patrol work he would run the tintometer out of curiosity on the vehicles he drove. Generally, he found the driver's side windows to be around 71-72 percent window tint from the factory. So, he said, anything that gets added to the driver's side windows pretty much makes it illegal almost immediately. SERGEANT BLOODGOOD stated it is difficult at night to see into vehicles that have tinted windows. Oftentimes when officers make a traffic stop, an attempt is made to put light into the vehicle to determine what the occupants are doing, such as hiding drugs or having a weapon. However, the light cannot penetrate window tint which creates flashback and makes it very difficult to see into the vehicle. He said that in a number of the hit-and-run cases he has handled, criminal investigation was hampered because the victims were unable to make any sort of identification on the driver due to window tinting and could not even tell if the driver was male or female. In January and February of this year, the 10 officers working in his traffic unit issued 119 citations for window tint. SERGEANT BLOODGOOD addressed the earlier reference regarding police undercover vehicles. For the Anchorage Police Department, he said, there are some exceptions written into municipal ordinance to allow police vehicles to vary from some of the traffic ordinances based on the needs of the department and the mission of public safety. ANDREW FELT, Employee, Auto Trim Design, said SB 78, as written, does not address the problem. If businesses were subject to fines as written in this bill, Auto Trim Design would have been put out of the business of doing window tint. "The law is very arcane as the way it was adopted," he said. For instance, a Subaru Forester is considered a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and it is permissible to darken the back windows. However, a Subaru Outback station wagon, which does not appear to be much different, falls under the category of a passenger car and would not be allowed to have the same level of window tint. MR. FELT said that with the large number of transient military members a lot of vehicles come in from the many states that have much more lenient laws for window tint. Unless there is a 100 percent crackdown on all this window tint coming in from out-of- state, there will always be vehicles on the road with tinted windows. Other people will see this and want the product for its benefits, but there will be no place they can go to get it or to be educated as to what the law is regarding window film. There are many places online where pre-cut window tint kits can be purchased. These mail order kits are fairly easy for a backyard installer to put on and could not be regulated. This bill would only serve to put the people in the business of window tint out of it, Mr. Felt contended, and would leave the public without any place to turn for something even within the law. 1:46:37 PM MR. FELT, in response to Representative Neuman, said his understanding is that the regulation would apply to any window in any passenger vehicle; thus, it would also include the back window of a sedan. REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN inquired why the bill would put Mr. Felt out of business. MR. FELT responded that current law does not say his business cannot do this; it says that the owner of the vehicle is subject to the law once that vehicle hits the road with the tint. This would put his company out of the window tint business because there would be no need to employ a person to do the window tint. He said he has done window tint for over twenty years in five different states, and Alaska is by far the most restrictive. Every day customers with brand new SUV's come to Auto Trim Design asking that the front windows be darkened as much as are the back windows from the factory. He said his shop tells these customers it will not do that, but that it will apply a light tint which, he acknowledged, does fall outside of Alaska's regulations. However, he contended, that tint is light enough to easily see into that vehicle. The law does not define darker tint as any more illegal than a very light tint, so in many people's minds the question is, Why bother paying someone to do it light when it can be done very dark somewhere else? REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN asked why passing a law that restricts Mr. Felt's business from installing window tinting which is already illegal on the road will put him out of business. 1:50:40 PM MR. FELT replied because his employer would choose not to be in violation of a law that specifically targets the businesses that are doing window tinting. He said he can tint a vehicle legally if it is an SUV, but that percentage of his business is not very large. Most people want their entire vehicle done. His business would not be able to do the back windows of a Camry for the soccer mom who wants to keep her kids in the back seat cool and safe from ultra-violate rays. He said his business informs its customers that this is technically out of specification with Alaska state regulations and that they could be ticketed for it. Currently, Auto Trim Design is not violating the law by installing the window tint; the purchaser of that product is and most customers choose to accept that, given the benefits of the product. Only seven other states have laws close to or as restrictive as Alaska's, he related. REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN understood Mr. Felt to be saying that if his business only installs window tinting that is legal in Alaska he would not have enough customers to make it worthwhile to continue the business. MR. FELT answered yes, this would be the case if film can only be applied to those vehicles that come under the legal allowable limit which includes pickup trucks, SUVs, mini-vans, and full- size vans. Federal regulations go back many years before there were such things as Ford Explorers and Dodge Magnums which do not fall under the classification of a passenger vehicle. 1:54:04 PM BOB BOSWOOD, Owner, Auto Trim Design, stated he has been tinting windows in Alaska longer than [Lieutenant] Dial has been a trooper. Window film makes a vehicle look nice, cuts down on "UV", and reduces glare. At certain times of the year in Fairbanks the sun is on the horizon for quite some time and it nice to have the glare reduction. He agreed with [Sergeant Bloodgood's] statement that some factory tinted windows are already at the limit. MR. BOSWOOD said a bill should accomplish something and the only accomplishment this bill will have is to restrict. His business will not tint windows too dark for police to see in, he stated. The medium 35 percent tint that is done by his business is outside the regulations. If the legislature makes it illegal for his business to do this, his business will comply with the law which will eliminate two full-time positions as well as several other services that those employees do seasonally. MR. BOSWOOD warned that if his business is not here to do the medium tint on those windows, those very same windows will be tinted by someone's buddy on the military base or in a backyard or garage for cash only, and there will be no proof as to who tinted those windows. Additionally, those windows will be 5 percent tint and darker, as opposed to the 35 percent that his business currently does on front doors. He said he understands the trooper's side of it, but that most of today's SUVs and pickup trucks have dark tint that cannot be seen through and it is legal under federal standards. 1:57:16 PM SENATOR FRENCH drew attention to a letter of support from the Chief of Police of the Fairbanks Police Department. He read aloud the last paragraph from the letter: Regardless of whether or not a business owner personally agrees with the current tint requirements they all know what the current law is. For them to consciously disregard that law and install a window tint which they know to be illegal and passing on the subsequent cost for both the violation and tint removal to their often ignorant and unsuspecting customers is wrong and should not be allowed to continue. SENATOR FRENCH said he thinks the testimony today points out why it is a good idea to put some onus on the tint installers - they know the regulations better than anyone else. So, it seems like a perfectly targeted bill to put installers in control of their own fate and let them install legal tint on the cars that can accept it and not install it where it is not allowed. 1:58:48 PM REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN stated he is trying to find some middle ground. He inquired whether Senator French has talked to the various parties to try to find a common-ground solution. He further inquired whether allowing another 5 percent tint, going from a 30 percent tint to 35 percent, would be acceptable. SENATOR FRENCH responded he would not be in favor of making Alaska's laws more lax. There are a dozen or more other states with rules similar to Alaska and they get along just fine. The solution to the long sunny days in Fairbanks is a pair of sunglasses that can be taken off when the sun goes down, or shades that can be pulled down to protect kids when the sun is shining. He said the idea of changing the law to make the illegal installation of tint acceptable strikes him as being a step backwards. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN asked which windows would be affected by the bill. SENATOR FRENCH replied the bill would apply to all windows on the car, as provided on page 1, lines 7-9. He said a delayed effective date could be put on the bill to let companies use up the stock they have on hand and continue putting illegal product on the street and continue the citation of unsuspecting consumers. A delayed effective date would give the businesses some time to adjust. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN understood that Lieutenant Dial said it was just the front window and side windows. SENATOR FRENCH understood that the rules apply all the way around the car. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired whether this means there cannot be more than 30 percent tint on any window. SENATOR FRENCH said that particular statute belongs to the windshield and the two side windows. Also the tint cannot go beyond a certain level on the back passenger windows or the rear window. There are two separate rules for the front and the back. In further response, Senator French said there are two sets of rules - one for passenger cars and one for everything else, such as SUVs, limousines, and so forth. SENATOR FRENCH, in response to Chair Johansen, confirmed the bill next goes to the House Judiciary Standing Committee and there are no further committee referrals. 2:03:46 PM CHAIR JOHANSEN asked whether the different levels of tint are statutory or regulatory. SENATOR FRENCH answered regulatory. REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN inquired whether out-of-state vehicles coming into Alaska from states where more tint is legal would receive a citation. SENATOR FRENCH responded technically yes. He deferred to law enforcement to say what the practice is on the street. REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN understood that the committee does not have the window tinting law in front of it. What the committee has is a proposed law that would prevent installers from exceeding the current standards in Alaska. SENATOR FRENCH replied correct. REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN stated the people arguing against SB 78 are essentially saying that they want to be exempt from helping people break Alaska law because they want to be able to put tint on cars that does not meet these standards and be held harmless for this action, which is the current status of the law. SENATOR FRENCH answered that is the argument he heard being made. CHAIR JOHANSEN closed public testimony. 2:05:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN supported the intent of the legislation, but said he is trying to find some middle ground. REPRESENTATIVE DOOGAN stated he is perfectly fine with moving this bill. CHAIR JOHANSEN said he understands the questions by the window tinters, but that is not what is being addressed, as was made clear by Representative Doogan. He stated the questions can be worked out through the regulatory process and suggested the installers contact the appropriate state agency regarding changing the regulations for the percentage of tinting. REPRESENTATIVE Neuman moved to report CSSB 78(JUD) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSSB 78(JUD) was reported from the House Transportation Standing Committee.
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