BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 801
Author: Walters (R)
Amended: 7/16/07 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 9-1, 6/26/07
AYES: Lowenthal, Ashburn, Cedillo, Corbett, Dutton,
Harman, Kehoe, Torlakson, Yee
NOES: McClintock
NO VOTE RECORDED: Simitian
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 7/10/07
AYES: Romero, Cogdill, Cedillo, Margett, Ridley-Thomas
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/10/07 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Vehicles: license plates
SOURCE : The Transportation Corridor Agencies of Orange
County
DIGEST : This bill prohibits the use of or sale of a
product or device that is used to obscure a license plate
from being read by an electronic device operated by law
enforcement or a toll road.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides license plates shall at
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all times be securely fastened to the vehicle for which
they are issued so as to prevent the plates from swinging,
shall be mounted in a position so as to be clearly visible,
and shall be maintained in a condition to be clearly
legible. The rear license plate shall be mounted not less
than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground and
the front license plate shall be mounted not more than 60
inches from the ground with specified exceptions.
Existing law provides that, with specified exceptions, no
covering may be used on license plates.
Existing law provides that no casing frame, border, or
other device that obstructs or impairs the reading or
recognition of a license plate by a remote emission sensing
device shall be installed on or affixed to a vehicle.
This bill provides instead that a casing, shield, frame,
border, product, or other device that obstructs or impairs
the reading or recognition of a license plate by an
electronic device operated by state or local law
enforcement, an electronic device operated in connection
with a toll road, high-occupancy toll lane, toll bridge, or
other toll facility, or a remote emission sensing device,
shall not be installed on, or affixed to, a vehicle.
This bill provides that selling a product or device that
obscures or is intended to obscure the reading or
recognition of a license plate is punishable by a fine of
up to $250 per item sold.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/07)
The Transportation Corridor Agencies of Orange County
(source)
California State Automobile Association
Orange County Transportation Authority
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
South Bay Expressway
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the Senate
Transportation Committee, "The author and sponsor, the
Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), note that TCA's
toll roads, Highway 73 and Highway 241, lose approximately
$400,000 each month due to toll evasion. This results in
loss of revenue necessary to service bond payments for the
initial construction of the roads. The sponsor notes that
a large component of this toll evasion arises from those
driving cars without plates (i.e., newly purchased vehicles
for which plates have not yet been mounted) but is unable
to quantify the toll losses attributable to unreadable
plates.
"The author points out that one means employed to evade
tolls is the use of commercial products to lessen the
ability of cameras to read the alpha-numeric characters on
license plates. These products are sold online and in
automotive enthusiast magazines under names like
"PhotoBlockerTM" spray and "PhotoShieldTM" plate covers.
The advertised purpose of these products is to defeat law
enforcement cameras by applying a cover or a spray-on gloss
that is largely invisible, but is meant to reflect a
camera's flash, overexposing and making unreadable the
photograph of the license plate.
"The author reports that the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC), which operates the San Francisco Bay Area
toll bridges, cites losses of at least $100,000 per month
from toll evasion. The author indicates that she amended
the bill at the request of the Chair of the Assembly
Transportation Committee to include law enforcement
"electronic devices," such as red-light cameras."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Benoit,
Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De
Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Krekorian, La Malfa,
Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Mullin,
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Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Portantino,
Price, Richardson, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio,
Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Dymally, Garrick, Lieu, Sharon
Runner, Ruskin, Soto, Vacancy
JJA:nl 8/21/07 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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