BILL NUMBER: AB 508 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Torlakson
FEBRUARY 24, 2009
An act to add Section 12814.8 to, and to add and repeal Section
12814.9 of, the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 508, as amended, Torlakson. Vehicles: driver education:
provisional licenses.
Existing law, the Brady-Jared Teen Driver Safety Act of 1997,
allows for the issuance of a driver's license to a person at least 16
years of age but under 18 years of age pursuant to the provisional
licensing program. Under the act, licensees are required to meet
specified requirements, driver education, and training, and are
prohibited during the first 12 months after issuance of a license
from driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. or from
transporting passengers who are under 20 years of age, except as
provided. The act further prohibits a law enforcement officer from
stopping a vehicle for the sole purpose of determining whether the
driver is in violation of those restrictions.
This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to
collect an additional fee of $10 for each provisional license
application. The bill would create in the State Treasury the Young
Driver Education and Safety Fund and would further
require the additional fee to be deposited into that fund to, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, support the Young Driver Education
and Safety Fund Advisory Group and to fund automobile driver's
education and training in the public schools, including providing
grants to local educational agencies to provide driver education and
training programs in the public schools, under the direction of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction in consultation with the
Director of Motor Vehicles. The bill would require the State
Department of Education to establish a program to provide the grants
to local educational agencies, as specified, and would provide that
the department may recover its actual costs from the moneys that
would be allocated for the program.
The bill would require the Director of Motor Vehicles and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish the Young Driver
Education and Safety Fund Advisory Group, composed of members
representing specified organizations, for purposes of assessing and
recommending strategies to improve access to driver education and
training, evaluating the effectiveness of current driver education
and training standards and curriculum, and reviewing and making
recommendations regarding the regulation of private, Internet-based
driver education schools. The bill would require the advisory group
to meet and hold public hearings and to submit a specified report to
the director, the Superintendent, and relevant policy committees of
the Legislature. The bill would require the director and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide to the advisory group
necessary facilities and administrative support and would provide
that members of the advisory group are subject to the
conflict-of-interest provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974.
The bill would repeal the provisions relating to the advisory
group on January 1, 2013 2014 .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California legislators were among the first in the nation to
enact a graduated driver's licensing system which took effect in
1998. Graduated licenses have clearly helped decrease fatalities and
injuries caused by teenage drivers.
(b) According to a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, states with strong graduated driver's license laws
have reduced fatalities of 16-year-old drivers by 11 percent.
Significant reductions in fatalities have occurred in states such as
California that have a three-tiered driver's licensing system,
including passenger restrictions, nighttime restrictions, and longer
mandatory minimum permit holding periods.
(c) The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety in 2006 reported
that nighttime crash rates went down 27 percent for young drivers and
crash rates with teenage passengers decreased 38 percent.
(d) Nonetheless, motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading
cause of death for teenage drivers between the ages of 15 and 20,
accounting for 12.6 percent of all fatal crashes according to
statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
(e) These crashes cost an estimated $40.8 billion in 2002. In
2005, 3,467 15- to 20-year-old drivers were killed and 281,000 were
injured in motor vehicle crashes.
(f) Though young drivers constitute less than 6 percent of
California's licensed drivers, they accounted for an average of 21
percent of California's traffic fatalities from 2002 to 2004,
inclusive, according to the California Strategic Highway Safety Plan.
This disproportionate fatality rate demonstrates the need for
California to improve how the state manages younger drivers.
(g) The California Strategic Highway Safety Plan stated that one
of the key issues for implementation is limited funding for driver
education and training in the public schools.
SEC. 2. Section 12814.8 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
12814.8. (a) In addition to the fees required to be paid to the
department upon application for an original driver's license pursuant
to the provisional licensing program contained in Section 12814.6,
the department shall charge and collect a fee of ten dollars ($10)
for the purpose of funding automobile driver's education and training
programs pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 51220 of, and
pursuant to Section 51851 of, the Education Code. The department may
deduct its actual costs to collect and administer the additional fee
prior to depositing the remaining funds into the Young Driver
Education and Safety Fund pursuant to subdivision (b).
(b) There is hereby established in the State Treasury the Young
Driver Education and Safety Fund. The fees collected pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall be deposited into this fund and shall be
allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State
Department of Education. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in
consultation with the Director of Motor Vehicles, shall expend
moneys in the fund first to support the Young Driver Education and
Safety Fund Advisory Group established pursuant to Section 12814.9,
and shall expend all remaining moneys in the fund to increase driver
education and training in the public schools, including, but not
limited to, providing grants pursuant to subdivision (c).
(c) (1) The State Department of Education shall establish and
administer a program to provide grants to local educational agencies
to provide driver education and training programs in the public
schools. The department's actual costs for administering the grant
program shall be paid from the allocation made pursuant to
subdivision (b).
(2) Priority for funding driver education and training programs
pursuant to this subdivision shall be given to public schools where a
minimum of 40 percent of the pupils in grades 9 to 12 are eligible
for free or reduced-cost meals through the school lunch program of
the United States Department of Agriculture.
(3) The State Department of Education may adopt regulations to
implement this subdivision.
SEC. 3. Section 12814.9 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
12814.9. (a) The Director of Motor Vehicles and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction shall jointly establish the
Young Driver Education and Safety Fund Advisory Group consisting of
local, state, and national experts on highway safety and driver
education and training for all of the following purposes:
(1) To assess and recommend strategies to improve access to driver
education and training, including potential sources of funding for
driver education and training programs.
(2) To evaluate the effectiveness of current driver education and
training standards and curriculum and recommend modifications to
improve the effectiveness of those standards and curriculum in
reducing the fatality rate among teenage drivers.
(3) To review and make recommendations regarding the regulation of
private, Internet-based driver education schools.
(b) (1) The Director of Motor Vehicles and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction shall request each of the following entities to
provide a representative to serve as a member of the Young Driver
Education and Safety Fund Advisory Group:
(A) The Department of the California Highway Patrol.
(B) The Department of Motor Vehicles.
(C) The State Department of Education.
(D) The Automobile Club of Southern California.
(E) The California State Automobile Association.
(F) The American Insurance Association.
(G) The Driving School Association of California.
(H) The California Teachers Association.
(I) The California District Attorneys Association.
(J) The California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations.
(K) The California Association for Safety Education.
(L) The Association of California School Administrators.
(M) The National Transportation Safety Board.
(N) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
(O) The California State Parent Teacher Association.
(2) The Director of Motor Vehicles and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction may request an entity that is not listed in
paragraph (1) to provide a representative to serve as a member of the
Young Driver Education and Safety Fund Advisory Group if the
director or Superintendent of Public Instruction determines that
representation is necessary for the purposes of this section.
(c) (1) Members of the advisory group shall meet and hold public
hearings, as necessary, to carry out the purposes described in
subdivision (a).
(2) Members of the advisory group shall serve without compensation
but may be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses at the state
per diem rate and for reasonable travel expenses to attend meetings
and hearings.
(3) Members of the advisory group shall be subject to the
Political Reform Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000)
of the Government Code) and shall file a statement of economic
interests with the Fair Political Practices Commission.
(4) The Director of Motor Vehicles and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction shall provide the advisory group with the
necessary facilities and administrative support.
(d) On or before January 1, 2012 2013
, the advisory group shall submit a report to the Director of
Motor Vehicles, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the
chairpersons of the relevant policy committees of each house of the
Legislature. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to,
the information obtained pursuant to the activities described in
paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a).
(e) Moneys required to implement this section shall be made
available by the Superintendent of Public Instruction from the Young
Driver Education and Safety Fund.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2013 2014 , and as of that date is
repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before
January 1, 2013 2014 , deletes or
extends that date.