Pattie Lorusso figured she was doing the right thing for the environment -- and for her sanity -- when she bought a Honda Civic hybrid three years ago.
Not only would she help cut smog, Lorusso welcomed lower gas bills and the possibility of using carpool lanes by herself on her 130-mile round-trip commute to a Hollywood sound editing job.
But despite assurances that access to carpool lanes was imminent, she and 20,000 other owners of high-mileage hybrid cars in California are still waiting.
A state law allowing single-occupant hybrids that get 45 miles per gallon or better to use diamond lanes took effect Jan. 1, but federal action is necessary before it can be implemented. Options include a federal waiver or legislation that give states the right to decide who can use carpool lanes.
Although several California legislators are working on a solution, no one can say for sure when hybrid drivers will be allowed to zoom past other commuters on traffic-choked freeways.
It has been a long and frustrating delay, said Lorusso, 46, who moved to Toluca Lake from Ventura last year.
"It was part of the sales pitch, and I've been waiting ever since," she said. "I've been going online every month to see if it's gone through."
California's law, which expires in 2008, applies to vehicles that get at least 45 mpg and are among the cleanest-burning in their class. Qualifying owners would have to apply for a special decal from the Department of Motor Vehicles before entering carpool lanes.
So far, only hybrid models of the Honda Civic and Insight, as well as the Toyota Prius, qualify, said Susan Little, an aide to Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, (D-Agoura Hills), who wrote the legislation.
Pavley thought it would be a simple matter to win the federal waiver necessary to implement the law. But an omnibus transportation bill that included the waiver stalled in Congress last year, she said.
Federal Highway Administration officials say it may take more than a procedural change to win approval.
Federal law stipulates that, with few exceptions, vehicles using high-occupancy lanes must have at least two occupants, said Nancy Singer, an administration spokeswoman.
"Right now, hybrids don't meet the qualification, so there has to be some change," Singer said.
The federal government gets a say in who uses the lanes because it pays most of the costs of building them. California could defy Washington, D.C., and proceed without a waiver, as the state of Virginia is doing.
