California Senate weighs in on bandit taxis, 710 extension
State lawmakers weighed in on some vexing issues for Southern California by agreeing Tuesday to increase fines on bandit taxicabs and to require any extension of the 710 Freeway from Los Angeles to Pasadena be done by tunnel.
The state Senate approved a measure, sponsored by the city of Los Angeles, setting a $1,250 penalty for bandit taxicabs operating without city licenses.
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 1,427 suspected bandit drivers last year, quadruple the yearly average for the previous decade.
The illegal activity “endangers the public, competes unfairly with franchised taxicab operators . . . and deprives localities of hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees,” said Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach), author of SB 201, which now goes to the Assembly.
The Senate also sent the Assembly a measure by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) mandating that a tunnel be used to make any extension of the 710 Freeway from its current terminus at the Los Angeles city line to the 210 Freeway in Pasadena.
“Removing the surface-route option will protect homes and keep neighborhoods intact,” said Cedillo, author of SB 545.
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