The Latest: Lawmakers approve motorcyclists’ lane splitting

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Latest on action at the California Legislature (all times local):

6 p.m.

California lawmakers are moving to condone the practice of lane-splitting, in which motorcyclists drive between two lanes of vehicles.

With the state Assembly’s approval Thursday, it moves to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration.

The longstanding practice is in a legal grey area in California, though law enforcement has permitted the practice. The California Highway Patrol published lane-splitting guidelines in 2013, but regulators later ruled the CHP had no authority to make public policy.

AB51 by Assemblymen Bill Quirk, a Hayward Democrat, and Tom Lackey, a Palmdale Republican, would direct CHP to again set specific guidelines for the practice.

They removed from the bill a 50-mile-per-hour speed limit while weaving between lanes, despite objections from the American Motorcyclist Association.

It would legalize the practice only for people driving motorcycles.

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11:30 a.m.

Elephant handlers in California would have to stop using tools that inflict pain on the animals to train or control them under a bill approved by state lawmakers.

People or organizations caught using or threatening to use bullhooks, baseball bats, pitchforks or other harmful devices on elephants would face fines up to $10,000. They would also lose their elephant permit.

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill last year that would have criminalized the use of those instruments.

Some in the circus industry say bullhooks don’t harm the animals.

Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta of Alameda says the latest proposal protects elephants from tools that animal welfare groups call cruel.

The Assembly passed SB1062 Thursday on a 56-6 vote. It returns to the Senate.