An Assembly committee will hear testimony May 14 about a proposal to put a device on trucks to enable police or carriers to stop the vehicles.

The hearing on the bill, AB575, will take place before the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The bill passed the Assembly Transportation Committee April 29 by a vote of 16-0. If it passes in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, it will likely head to the Assembly floor for a final vote in that chamber and head on to the Senate.

According to Howard Posner, a consultant for the Assembly Transportation Committee, the bill is designed to keep certain hazardous materials out of the hands of terrorists.

The bill, which applies to only certain hazmat loads, would require every truck covered to have some kind of disconnect device – an external mechanism that would either activate the brakes or cut off the fuel to the engine. The device would have to be built in a way that would allow Highway Patrol officers to activate it from the outside of the truck.

The technologies could include a device on the bumper that, if hit by a highway patrol car, would cause the brakes to engage. The original text of the bill would require markings on the outside of the truck “to identify the activation method of the [disconnect] device.” That marking might be “a letter or symbol designated by the department.”