BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 3
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 3 (Miller) - As Amended: April 14, 2011
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
provide notice of outstanding toll evasion violations to
individuals who have requested a confidential home address.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DMV to provide notice of outstanding toll evasion
violations to an individual who has requested a confidential
home address from DMV and authorizes the department to collect
a fee from such an individual to cover administrative costs.
2)Suspends the statutory time period for collection of the toll
evasion violation and tolling charges until the vehicle owner
receives notice of the violation from DMV.
3)Requires the notice to meet existing legal standards for such
notices.
4)Directs DMV to refuse to renew the registration of a vehicle
if the agency responsible for processing a violation has filed
or electronically transmitted to DMV an itemized notice of the
unpaid toll evasion violation, DMV has mailed notice to the
vehicle owner and the vehicle owner has not paid the penalty.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)According to DMV, its automated vehicle registration notice
system would need significant modification, entailing millions
of dollars, to be capable of serving as the legal notice of
outstanding toll evasion violation, which DMV describes this
as cost-ineffective. (Motor Vehicle Account.)
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2)Potential increased revenue to local governments of an unknown
amount, but possibly in the millions of dollars annually,
resulting from an increased ability to collect unpaid toll
violations or from a reduction in toll violations. While this
revenue to local governments may be greater than the costs to
DMV to modify its automated vehicle registration notice
system, the revenue would accrue locally while the costs would
fall on the state agency.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author, this bill will allow
local governments to collect millions of dollars in unpaid
fines for toll evasion violations. An investigation by the
Orange County Register in 2008 revealed thousands of unpaid
violations and tolls accrued by peace officers and other
individuals whose DMV records subject to enhanced
confidentiality. Such confidentiality of DMV records makes it
prohibitively difficult for toll operators to obtain the
address of certain toll evaders. As a result, the toll
operators cannot notify the violators of their unpaid fines
and, as a result, the toll agencies are unable to collect the
fines. These unpaid tolls and fines cost agencies in Orange
County over $5 million over the prior five years.
2)Background .
a) All DMV Records Confidential, but Some Records More
Confidential Than Others. Until 1989, DMV records were
generally considered public records and any person who had
a legitimate reason to seek a home address of a particular
person in the DMV files could obtain it simply by producing
the relevant driver's license number or a license plate
number. In 1986, legislation was enacted creating a list
of public officials whose home addresses were to be kept
confidential by the DMV. Under this legislation, the home
addresses of peace officers and others on the statutory
list may only be disclosed to a court, a law enforcement
agency, the BOE, or any governmental agency legally
required to be furnished that information. As a matter of
practice, DMV records for these individuals only show the
individual's employer's name (and no address). Home
addresses may be retrieved only through a time consuming
manual process. Over the years, the number of groups
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covered by the enhanced confidentiality statutes has
increased, to the point where about 1.5 million persons are
currently covered.
b) In response to a stalking and murder case, the
Legislature passed AB 1779 (Roos), Chapter 1213, Statutes
of 1989, which made confidential the home addresses of all
individuals with records at the DMV. The level of
confidentiality is similar to that enjoyed by public
officials protected by the 1986 legislation, except that
disclosures may also be made, in limited circumstances, to
financial institutions, insurance companies, attorneys,
vehicle manufacturers, and persons doing statistical
research.
c) Toll Road Operator Unable To Collect Fines. In keeping
with current law, DMV does not provide road agencies with
the home addresses of individuals whose records are subject
to enhanced confidentiality. As a result, toll road
operators oftentimes unable to collect fines for toll
evasion committed by such individuals.
3)Other Related Legislation. AB 996 (Spitzer) of 2008 would
have addressed this situation by allowing toll and parking
enforcement agencies access to records of those covered by the
special confidentiality statutes. That measure was vetoed.
4)Support . This bill is supported by the Bay Area Toll
Authority, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the
Automobile Club of California, the Automobile Club of Southern
California and others.
5)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081