BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 610 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 610 (Solorio) As Amended March 21, 2012 2/3 vote. Urgency ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |65-7 |(June 01, 2011) |SENATE: |38-0 |(April 12, | | | | | | |2012) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: TRANS . SUMMARY : Provides an additional 12 months for the collection of the 7,500 paid applications necessary for the Veterinary Medical Board to successfully sponsor a specialized license plate. The Senate amendments : 1)Delete the prior contents of the bill and insert the current language. 2)Add an urgency clause allowing the bill to go into effect immediately. EXISTING LAW : 1)Allows any state agency to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to sponsor a specialized license plate program. 2)Requires DMV to issue specialized license plates for that program, if the agency complies with all statutory requirements. 3)Prohibits DMV from establishing a specialized license plate program for an agency until it has received not less than 7,500 paid applications for that agency's specialized license plates. 4)Requires the agency to collect and hold applications for the plates. Once the agency has received at least 7,500 applications, it must submit the applications, along with the necessary fees, to DMV. 5)Prohibits advance payment to DMV of its estimated or actual AB 610 Page 2 administrative costs associated with the issuance of a particular specialized license plate from constituting compliance with the 7,500 application threshold requirement. 6)Requires funds accruing to a sponsoring state agency from the sale of specialized license plates to be expended exclusively for projects and programs that promote that agency's official policy, mission or work. 7)Allows specialized license plates to feature a distinctive design, decal, or distinctive message in a two-inch by three-inch space to the left of the plate's numerical sequence and a space not larger than 5/8 inch in height below the numerical series. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill: 1)Allowed a state agency to sponsor a specialized license plate in the absence of 7,500 paid applications if the conditions described below are met. 2)Prohibited DMV from establishing a specialized license plate program for a state agency until DMV has received at least 2,500 paid applications for that agency's specialized license plates and sufficient funds from donations to cover its startup costs for plate manufacturing. 3)Specified that advance payment to DMV of DMV's program costs by the agency sponsoring the plate may not constitute compliance with the 2,500 application requirement. 4)Allowed the sponsoring agency to actively request and receive donations for the specialized license plate program, which may consist of donations from public and private entities for deposit into the Specialized License Plate Fund. 5)Required earnings generated from donations to be retained for the prospective specialized license plate program. 6)Allowed funds to be appropriated to DMV by the Legislature for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the specialized license plate program, upon DMV's determination that there are sufficient funds for the prospective AB 610 Page 3 specialized license plate. 7)Granted the sponsoring agency 12 months, following the date of approval of the agency's initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program, to receive the required number of applications. 8)Allowed the agency to either refund the fees or collect paid applications for an additional 12 months if it is unable to meet the 2,500 application standard within the first 12 months. If, after 24 months, the 2,500 application standard still has not been met, all application fees must be refunded. 9)Discontinued the issuance of a specialized plate approved under this process if its population falls below 2,500 for one year but allows those plates that have already been issued to continue to be used. 10)Required, for full-plate graphic design plates, an additional $50 fee for original issuance, a $40 fee for renewal, a $15 fee for transfer, and a $35 fee for a substitute plate. 11)Required the design of the plate to be consistent with the criteria contained in existing law that applies to specialized license plates. 12)Required the revenues collected from the additional fees to be allocated to the sponsoring agency for expenditure exclusively for projects and programs that promote the agency's official policy, mission or work. 13)Required DMV to provide the sponsoring agency an estimate of its actual costs to initiate the license plate program. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. The current version of this bill was withdrawn from the Senate Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. COMMENTS : Prior to 2007, any new special interest license plate required specific legislative authorization. This practice was held to be unconstitutional in that the Legislature approved some of the plates, and rejected others, using no standardized or objective criteria for those decisions. Subsequently, as a AB 610 Page 4 result of AB 84 (Leslie), Chapter 91, Statutes of 2006, an administrative process has been established wherein DMV will issue specialized license plates when they are sponsored by a state agency, the plate's message and the revenues it generates support that agency's program, and at least 7,500 paid applications have been received. The 7,500-application threshold was previously put into statute for special interest license plates and was arrived at in an attempt to assure that DMV's startup costs would be fully covered by the portion of the registration fee surcharge that is directed to the department and to avoid a proliferation of different types of plates, which can be troublesome from a law enforcement perspective. The author of this bill asserts that the 7,500 application requirement sets "a very high threshold for pre-orders." He complains that this, in conjunction with another change enacted in 2006 prohibiting full-plate graphics (also important to law enforcement), has resulted in "no new plates (having) been issued, even though numerous nonprofits have attempted to create new special-interest license plates." He goes on to point out that "specialty license plates bring additional revenue to the DMV, while providing a funding source for various nonprofit charities." Although the introduced version of the bill would have allowed a plate to be established with only 2,500 applications, the bill now simply gives the Veterinary Medical Board an additional year to meet the standard 7,500 application threshold. This bill is supported by a number of animal welfare advocates who are desirous of establishing a Pet Lover's Plate that can raise funds to support spay and neuter programs. They feel the 7,500 application standard to be overly burdensome and see this bill as a means of boosting the prospects of obtaining this new plate. Legislative history: AB 1815 (Emmerson) of 2010, would have allowed the establishment of a NASCAR plate, with the proceeds benefitting the Bureau of Automotive Repair's vehicle repair and retirement program. That bill passed the Assembly but died in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee without being heard. AB 1242 (Achadjian) of 2011 would have established a NASCAR plate whose proceeds would benefit the Foundation for California Community Colleges. AB 1242 is a two-year bill that ended up not being pursued. AB 610 Page 5 Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0003218