BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1132|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1132
Author: Jones (D), et al
Amended: 9/4/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-2, 5/28/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Vehicle registration: organ and tissue
donation
SOURCE : Donate Life California
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Motor
Vehicles to provide a graphic hyperlink for those renewing
a vehicle registration online to designate that he/she is
an organ donor and to make a voluntary contribution to the
California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/09 clarify that the $300,000
Department of Motor Vehicles administrative cost cap in the
bill is annual cost cap, not a one-time cap.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes California's
CONTINUED
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federally-designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs)
to establish a not-for-profit organization to be designated
the California Organ and Tissue Donation 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.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) must ask all
applicants for original or renewal driver's 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 age 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 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.
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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 $300,000 per
year 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
Purpose of the bill . SB 108 (Speier), Chapter 740,
Statutes of 2001, authorized the establishment of an Organ
and Tissue Donor Registry in the 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:
1. California Transplant Donor Network, which serves 39
counties in northern and central California.
2. Golden State Donor Services, which serves 11 counties in
the Sacramento region.
3. Lifesharing Community Organ and Tissue Donation, which
serves San Diego and Imperial Counties.
4. 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
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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 driver's licenses and identification
cards. Donate Life reports that approximately 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/09)
Donate Life California (source)
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
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters of this bill point out
that the average motorist has an opportunity to volunteer
as an organ donor through driver license renewal once every
five years. By additionally offering the signup system to
annual vehicle registrations, Californians would receive
information regarding Donate Life California each year.
More frequent enrollment opportunities may result in a
higher participation rate.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Anderson, Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Duvall, Saldana
JJA:mw 9/8/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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