BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: Ab 1132
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: jones
VERSION: 6/23/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 30, 2009
SUBJECT:
Vehicle registration: organ and tissue donation
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
provide a link for those renewing a vehicle registration online
to designate that he or she is an organ donor and to make a
voluntary contribution of $2 to the California Organ and Tissue
Donor Registry.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes California's federally-designated organ
procurement organizations (OPOs) to establish a not-for-profit
organization to be designated the California Organ and Tissue
Donation Registrar (registrar). The OPOs established Donate Life
California as the registrar, and Donate Life California has
established and maintains the California Organ and Tissue Donor
Registry (registry).
DMV must ask all applicants for original or renewal drivers'
licenses or identification cards if they want to become organ
and tissue donors. On the front of the application, DMV provides
space to give consent to be an organ and tissue donor upon
death. The application includes a statement on the back
explaining that this consent is legally binding for those 18 and
older and that minors require consent from a parent or guardian.
DMV prints the word "DONOR" inside a pink dot embedded on the
face of the driver's license or identification card of each
person who signs up and transmits the person's information to
Donate Life California.
A person who applies for a driver's license or identification
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card may also designate a voluntary contribution of $2 to
support organ and tissue donation. DMV collects these
contributions, from which it deducts its actual administrative
costs of signing up donors, and then DMV transmits the remainder
to support the work of Donate Life California.
This bill :
1.Requires DMV to add a graphic hyperlink to the confirmation
page for noncommercial vehicle registrations processed online
that provides drivers the option to connect to Donate Life's
online California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. Enrolling
in the registry via the link constitutes a legal document that
shall remain binding after the donor's death despite any
express desires of the next of kin opposed to the donation.
2.Allows a person renewing a noncommercial vehicle registration
online to use the link to make a contribution to the
California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.
3.Prescribes that the information that the Donate Life obtains
through the link with DMV's vehicle registration service be
used solely for organ and tissue donation and prohibits the
further dissemination of that information.
4.Exempts public entities and employees from any liability for
any loss, detriment, or injury resulting directly or
indirectly from false or inaccurate information that a person
provides via the hyperlink to the registry.
5.Caps DMV's costs for signing up donors at five percent of the
amount DMV collects through the $2 voluntary contributions
that people can make with their applications for drivers'
licenses or identification cards under existing law.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . SB 108 (Speier), Chapter 740, Statutes of 2001
authorized the establishment of an Organ and Tissue Donor
Registry in the California Health and Human Services Agency.
The agency never received funding for the registry, and in
2003, SB 112 (Speier), Chapter 405, transferred responsibility
for establishing the registry to a private, nonprofit
organization administered by the four federally-designated
OPOs. The four federally-designated OPOs are:
AB 1132 (JONES) Page 3
California Transplant Donor Network, which serves 39
counties in northern and central California;
Golden State Donor Services, which serves 11 counties in
the Sacramento region;
Lifesharing Community Organ & Tissue Donation, which
serves San Diego and Imperial Counties; and
OneLegacy, which serves counties in the Los Angeles
area.
SB 112 built on a provision of current law at that time that
required DMV to provide donor registration forms to those
applying for drivers' licenses or identification cards. These
forms included instructions to mail the completed form to
Donate Life California. Donate Life California found this
system an ineffective method of signing up donors, and so in
2005 sponsored, SB 689 (Speier), Chapter 665, which requires
DMV to collect organ and tissue donor designation information
on its applications for drivers' licenses and identification
cards. Donate Life reports that about 25 percent of those
applying or renewing a driver's license or identification card
sign up to be donors.
California drivers only have to renew their licenses once
every five years. This bill builds on SB 689 by requiring DMV
to provide a link from its online vehicle registration page to
Donate Life's online registry for organ and tissue donation.
Because state law requires that a vehicle owner must renew the
vehicle registration annually, the proponents of this bill
believe that it will increase the numbers of DMV customers
that sign up to be organ donors as they are reminded annually
of that opportunity.
1.DMV's costs: donor sign ups . This bill caps the amount of its
costs for donor signups that DMV may recover at five percent
of the revenues from the voluntary contributions that are made
via a check box on an application for a new or renewal
driver's license or identification card as provided in
existing law. DMV reports that the check box on the license
application is bringing in approximately $800,000 annually.
Five percent of that about is $40,000. DMV reports costs of
$300,000 annually for processing the portion of the nearly
five million applications where a person may sign up to be a
donor. Thus, the cap in this bill would mean that the Motor
Vehicle Account, which is derived from vehicle registrations
fees and pays for DMV's operations, would need to subsidize
DMV's signing up organ and tissue donors by approximately
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$260,000 per year. The author or the committee may wish to
amend this bill to provide that its cap on DMV cost recovery
be limited to $300,000 per year and include authority for DMV
to adjust this amount over time based on a rate of inflation.
2.Technical amendments .
On page 2, line 10, after "designate" insert "via the
hyperlink in subdivision (a)"
One page 2, line10, delete "of two dollars ($2)"
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 76 - 2
Appr: 12 - 2
Trans: 12 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 24, 2009)
SUPPORT: Donate Life California (sponsor)
Blood Centers of California
California Heart Center Foundations
California Transplant Donor Network
Golden State Donor Services
National Kidney Foundation
One Legacy
Sierra Eye and Tissue Donor Services
OPPOSED: None received.