BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: SB 88
          SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN               AUTHOR:  desaulnier
                                                         VERSION: 6/29/10
          Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell                   FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date: August 18, 2010





          SUBJECT:

          Firefighter license plates

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill increases the fees charged to acquire firefighter  
          license plates.

          ANALYSIS:

          Existing law requires that in order to register a vehicle in  
          California, the registered owner pay a registration fee of $34,  
          a $22 surcharge for additional personnel for the California  
          Highway Patrol, various locally-imposed fees, and a vehicle  
          license fee (VLF) equal to 1.15% of a vehicle's value based on  
          purchase price depreciated according to a statutory schedule.

          Existing law permits a current or retired California firefighter  
          to obtain special firefighter license plates for his or her  
          vehicle. The special plates contain the words "California  
          Firefighter" and require in addition to the above fees that the  
          vehicle owner must pay: 

               $35 for the initial issuance of the plates;
               $20 annually for each renewal that includes continued  
              display of the plates;
               $35 to replace the plates if they become damaged; and
               $15 to transfer the plates to another firefighter-owned  
              vehicle.

          Revenues derived from these fees go, after paying the Department  
          of Motor Vehicles' (DMV's) costs associated with firefighter  
          plates, to the California Firefighters' Memorial Fund, which  
          existing law allocates to the California Fire Foundation to:





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           maintain and repair the California Firefighters' Memorial on  
            the grounds of the State Capitol;
           hold ceremonies to honor the memory of fallen firefighters;  
            and
           assist the spouses and children of fallen firefighters.

          Upon the death of the firefighter, if the surviving spouse  
          requests the transfer either within 60 days of the death or upon  
          the expiration of the vehicle registration, whichever occurs  
          first, then DMV must transfer the firefighter license plates to  
          the surviving spouse. If no request is made, then the plates  
          must be returned to DMV.



           This bill  :

          1.Makes findings and declarations about the importance of the  
            California Fire Foundation's work and the need for additional  
            funding derived from California firefighter license plates to  
            support the foundation's work.

          2.Increases the additional fees for the original issuance of a  
            set of firefighter license plates from $35 to $50 and for the  
            annual renewal of registration for a vehicle with these plates  
            from $20 to $35.

          3.Deletes the 60-day time limit for a surviving spouse of a  
            firefighter to request that DMV transfer the firefighter  
            license plates to him or her.

          4.Authorizes a surviving member of the deceased firefighter's  
            family to keep one of the special license plates as an  
            heirloom, if there is no surviving spouse or upon death of the  
            surviving spouse. For this purpose, the bill defines "family"  
            as grandparents, stepgrandparents, parents, stepparents,  
            siblings, stepsiblings, children, and stepchildren. 

          5.Requires, upon the death of the surviving spouse, that the  
            firefighter license plates be either returned to DMV or  
            destroyed.
          
          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose  . The author notes that the state first launched the  
            firefighter license plate program over a decade ago, but the  




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            associated fees have not increased during that time. These  
            fees support the California Fire Foundation, a nonprofit  
            501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that the California  
            Professional Firefighters formed in 1987. The foundation  
            provides emergency assistance and support to families of  
            fallen firefighters, built and maintains the California  
            Firefighters Memorial in Capitol Park, and is involved in an  
            array of victim assistance and public education programs. The  
            author reports that over the past decade demand for the  
            services that the foundation renders has increased  
            dramatically.

            This bill also eliminates the 60-day time limit for a  
            surviving spouse to request that DMV transfer a set of  
            firefighter license plates to his or her name. Given that a  
            surviving spouse's grieving process can often take months or  
            even years, the author argues that it is only appropriate that  
            the 60-day transfer window be eliminated to provide a grieving  
            spouse a reasonable amount of time to initiate the transfer.  
            Committee staff further notes that other transfer of other  
            special license plates, such as those for Purple Heart  
            recipients, include no similar time limit. This bill,  
            therefore, treats surviving spouses of firefighters in the  
            same manner as other groups of surviving spouses when it comes  
            to requesting the transfer of special license plates.

           2.Concurrence hearing  .  When the Senate previously approved this  
            bill, it declared the Legislature's intent to enact statutory  
            changes needed to implement the 2009 Budget Act.  Now that the  
            bill is back in the Senate for concurrence, the Senate Rules  
            Committee has referred the bill to this committee under Senate  
            Rule 29.10 in order for the committee to review the amendments  
            taken in the Assembly.  For a concurrence hearing such as  
            this, the committee may only take one of two actions: 1) hold  
            the bill or 2) return the bill to the Senate Floor for  
            concurrence in Assembly amendments.  
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    72 - 0
               Appr: 17 - 0
               Trans:    12 - 0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on  
          Tuesday,   
                     August 17, 2010)





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               SUPPORT:  California Professional Firefighters (sponsor)
          
               OPPOSED:  None received.