BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 610
Author: Solorio (D), et al.
Amended: 3/21/12 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-0, 3/27/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Kehoe, Pavley, Rubio,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lowenthal
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 65-7, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Special interest license plates
SOURCE : Social Compassion in Legislation
DIGEST : 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:
1. The license plate has "a design or contains a message
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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).
2. 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.
3. Most plate revenues are used for "projects and programs
that promote the state or local agency's official
policy, 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 Vet 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.
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2. Contains an urgency clause.
3. Sunsets its provisions on July 1, 2013.
Background
Urgency measure . The Vet Board began collecting
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.
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.
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
the above urgency measure comment. 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
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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. The bill
excludes private organizations from seeking specialized
license plates as a forum for private speech, and thus
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/9/12)
Social Compassion in Legislation (source)
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Bay Area Open Space Council
City of Long Beach
City of Los Angeles
Honorable Pam Slater-Price, District 3 Supervisor, San
Diego County
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association
PAW PAC
Take Me Home
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author introduced this bill at
the request of the Social Compassion in Legislation
organization, which since June 2010 in concert with the Vet
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.
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This bill provides the Vet Board with an additional year to
reach the 7,500 threshold.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 65-7, 6/1/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto, Hagman, Hall, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Lara,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Morrell, Nestande, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, Portantino,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Grove, Halderman, Harkey, Knight, Mansoor,
Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Garrick, Gordon, Gorell,
Jeffries, Monning, V. Manuel Pérez, Silva
JJA:kc 4/9/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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