BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB
610
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: solorio
VERSION:
3/21/2012
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: March 27, 2012 URGENCY: YES
SUBJECT:
Special interest license plates
DESCRIPTION:
This bill provides the California Veterinary Medical Board extra
time to collect 7,500 prepaid applications and fees in order to
establish a special interest license plate.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law provides for a specialized license plate program,
under which the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) may issue new
special interest license plates only on behalf of state agencies
provided that for each state agency:
The license plate has "a design or contains a message
that publicizes or promotes a state agency, or the official
policy, mission, or work of a state agency." The design
shall also be confined to the left of and below the
numerical series (i.e., no full plate designs allowed).
The state agency submits 7,500 applications and
accompanying fees to DMV for the license plate. The state
agency has 12 months to collect these applications and
fees, but it can extend that to a maximum of 24 months if
it notifies and offers to refund fees to those that applied
during the first 12 months. Once a plate is issued, DMV
stops issuing that plate for the agency if the number of
plates drops below 7,500.
Most plate revenues are used for "projects and programs
that promote the state or local agency's official policy,
AB 610 (SOLORIO) Page 2
mission, or work." These funds are deposited into the
Specialized License Plate Fund and are continuously
appropriated to the agency sponsoring the plate.
In addition to the usual registration and license fees, DMV
charges the following additional fees for specialized license
plates: $50 (original), $40 (renewal), $15 (transfer), and $35
(license substitute) and deducts its administrative costs from
the revenues generated. A sponsoring state agency may not spend
more that 25 percent of its license plate funds for
administrative, marketing, and promotional costs associated with
the plate, and it must submit an annual accounting report to
DMV.
This bill :
1. Allows the Veterinary Medical Board (Vet Board), by June
30, 2012, to extend from 24 months to 36 months the maximum
amount of time that it may collect prepaid applications for
a specialized license plate it is sponsoring. The board
must contact vehicle owners who have applied for the plate
already and offer to refund the fee they have paid if they
do not want to continue to wait for the board to meet the
7,500 threshold and DMV then to produce the plate.
2. Contains an urgency clause.
3. Sunsets its provisions on July 1, 2013.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose of the bill . The author introduced this bill at
the request of the Social Compassion in Legislation
organization, which since June 2010 in concert with the
California Veterinary Medical Board has been promoting
sales of the Pet Lover's/California Spay and Neuter Plate
in an effort to raise additional funds for the spay and
neuter trust fund to distribute grants to eligible agencies
throughout the state. The sponsor reports that it and the
Vet Board are encountering significant difficulty in
meeting the threshold of 7,500 applications for the license
plate. This bill provides the Vet Board with an additional
year to reach the 7,500 threshold.
2. Urgency measure . The Vet Board began collecting
AB 610 (SOLORIO) Page 3
applications and fees for the Pet Lover/Spay and Neuter
Plate in June 2010. A year later the Vet Board notified
applicants that it was going to continue collecting
pre-paid applications for another 12 months and offered to
refund their fees. It appears that the Vet Board will not
reach the 7,500 threshold by June of this year when the
second 12 months concludes. Should this bill, an urgency
measure, become law by June 2012, then the Vet Board will
be able to again extend collection of applications and fees
for another 12 months until June 2013.
3. History of special interest license plates: before 2004 .
Historically, the Vehicle Code required DMV to issue, upon
legislative authorization, a special interest license plate
bearing a distinctive design or decal of a sponsoring
organization to any vehicle owner that pays specified fees,
provided that the sponsoring organization met certain
conditions. These conditions included that the sponsor of
a special interest license plate had to collect 7,500
applications and fees for a special license plate in order
to pay DMV's costs of creating a new plate, which are
approximately $375,000 or 7,500 applications times the $50
fee.
4. History of special interest license plates: since 2004 .
In 2004, a federal court decision, Women's Resource Network
v. Gourley, E.D. Cal 2004, F.Supp.2d, 2004 U.S. Dist.,
invalidated the provisions of the Vehicle Code described in
comment #2. In the Gourley decision, the court declared
California's special interest license plate statutes
unconstitutional because they violated the First Amendment
right to freedom of speech. The court specifically
objected to the Legislature "picking and choosing" special
license plates that private organizations propose, in
essence promoting the message of some organizations while
denying this right to others. The court did allow the ten
special interest license plates existing at the time of its
decision to remain in use and available to new applicants,
as they are today.
In response to the court decision, AB 84 (Leslie), Chapter
454, Statutes of 2006, established the current specialized
license plate program to provide a forum for government
speech that promotes California's state policies. AB 84
excludes private organizations from seeking specialized
license plates as a forum for private speech, and thus
AB 610 (SOLORIO) Page 4
addresses the court's objection. Plates now created and
the revenue they generate must publicize or promote a state
agency, or the official policy, mission, or work of a state
agency.
To date, no license plates have been issued under AB 84's
specialized license plate program due to an inability to
collect 7,500 paid applications.
5. Second hearing . The committee heard this bill on July 5
of last year, but during that hearing, the committee did
not vote on the bill. At that time this bill would have
authorized the creation of new special interest license
plates with applications and fees from 2,500 vehicle owners
for the plate, plus private or public donations to cover
the remaining cost of creating the new license plate.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 65-7
Appr: 13-4
Trans: 14-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, March 21,
2012)
SUPPORT: Social Compassion in Legislation (sponsor)
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Bay Area Open Space Council
City of Long Beach
City of Los Angeles
Hon. Pam Slater-Price, District 3 Supervisor, San
Diego County
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association
PAW PAC
Take Me Home
OPPOSED: None received.