An effort in the California Legislature to change fines levied on trucks whose loads are not properly secured has died.

The bill remained in the Assembly Appropriations Committee at the deadline for measures to advance from the chamber, effectively killing it for the year. It previously won unanimous approval in the Transportation Committee.

Current law forbids allowing any part of a truck’s load – except clear water or feathers from live birds – from falling off the vehicle. Any object falling off a truck can result in a fine of $134, according to a staffer for Assembly Member Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine.

However, AB1087, sponsored by DeVore, would have changed the fines, basing them on the size of the object falling from the truck. If the object were less than 10 square feet, the fine would have been $50; if any of the objects dropped were greater than 10 square feet in size, that fine would have increased to $500.

An earlier version of the bill would have applied the fine for every object that dropped off a truck.

The measure kept a provision now in California law that makes a second offense a misdemeanor.