BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 693
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          Date of Hearing:   April 25, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
                    AB 693 (Huffman) - As Amended:  April 28, 2011
           
          SUBJECT  :  Department of Motor Vehicles: organ donation 

           SUMMARY  :  Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to 
          provide an online option for drivers to connect to the 
          California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.   Specifically,  this 
          bill  :  

          1)Requires DMV to add a graphic hyperlink to the confirmation 
            page of vehicle registrations processed online, providing the 
            option for registrants to connect to the state-authorized 
            Donate Life California online California Organ and Tissue 
            Donor Registry.  

          2)Allows a person who has connected to the Registry via that 
            hyperlink to make a voluntary contribution for the purpose of 
            promoting and supporting organ and tissue donation.  

          3)Requires such a contribution to be treated as a voluntary 
            contribution to the California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry 
            and not as a fee for the issuance of vehicle registration.

          4)Provides that online enrollment in the Registry constitutes a 
            legal document under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and 
            remains binding after the donor's death despite any express 
            desires of next of kin opposed to the donation.  

          5)Allows information obtained by the Organ and Tissue Donor 
            Registrar for these purposes to be used only for these 
            purposes only and prohibits them from being disseminated 
            further by the Registrar.  

          6)Provides immunity from liability to public entities and 
            employees for any loss, detriment, or injury resulting 
            directly or indirectly from false or inaccurate information 
            contained in the enrollment form.  

           EXISTING LAW  :










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          1)Requires the application for an original or renewal driver's 
            license or ID card to contain a space for the applicant to 
            enroll in the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor 
            Registry.  


          2)Requires DMV to inquire verbally of an applicant applying in 
            person for an original or renewal driver's license or ID card 
            at a DMV office as to whether the applicant wishes to enroll 
            in the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. 
             Failure or refusal to answer this question or check a box on 
            the application form may not be a basis for DMV to deny an 
            applicant a driver's license or ID card.  


          3)Requires DMV to collect donor designation information on all 
            applications for an original or renewal driver's license or ID 
            card.  


          4)Requires DMV to print the word "DONOR" or another appropriate 
            designation on the face of a driver's license or ID card to a 
            person who has indicated on the application his or her intent 
            to enroll in the organ donation program.  


          5)Requires DMV, on a weekly basis, to electronically transmit to 
            Donate Life California, specified information from every 
            application that indicates the applicant's decision to enroll 
            in the organ donation program.  


          6)Allows a person who applies for an original or renewal 
            driver's license or ID card to designate a voluntary 
            contribution of $2 for the purpose of promoting and supporting 
            organ and tissue donation.  This contribution must be treated 
            as a voluntary contribution to Donate Life California and not 
            as a fee for the issuance of a driver's license or ID card.  


          7)Allows DMV to use those donations to cover its actual 
            administrative costs incurred in administering the organ 
            donation program.  










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          8)Requires DMV to deposit all the revenue remaining after 
            deducting its administrative costs into the Donate Life 
            California Trust Subaccount, which is continuously 
            appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the 
            Controller for allocation to Donate Life California and must 
            be expended for the purpose of increasing participation in 
            organ donation programs.  


          9)Requires the enrollment form to be posted on the Internet Web 
            sites for DMV and the California Health and Human Services 
            Agency.  


           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  Over the past several years, the Legislature has 
          established an active role for DMV in organ donation programs.  
          Specifically, the department collects donor signups from 
          driver's license applicants and verbally queries those 
          applicants who fail to respond to the inquiry on the license 
          application as to their willingness to be organ donors.  
          Additionally, the DMV website contains an organ donation 
          enrollment form.  

          In consideration of DMV's expenditure of resources this program, 
          the statue contains a provision allowing driver's license 
          applicants to make a $2 donation to support organ donation 
          programs, and authorizes DMV to recover its costs "off the top" 
          from these donations.  The remaining funds are allocated to 
          Donate Life California and must be expended for the purpose of 
          increasing participation in organ donation programs.  

          This bill would require DMV to provide vehicle owners who have 
          renewed their registrations online a link to Donate Life 
          California.  This should be a relatively simple and 
          straightforward task and DMV, in fact, reports that it is in the 
          process of accomplishing it.  Vehicle owners would also be 
          provided an opportunity to make contributions to the California 
          Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, as driver's license applicants 
          already are.  

          This bill's sponsor, Donate Life California, notes that this 
          bill is "designed to increase organ and tissue donor 
          registration by allowing drivers additional opportunities to 








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          donate organs and tissue by giving them the option to register 
          as an organ and tissue donor when they annually renew their 
          vehicle registration online.  Californians currently have the 
          opportunity to enroll on the state donor registry when applying 
          for or renewing their driver license or ID card.  However, this 
          opportunity comes only once every five years.  AB 693 would 
          allow Californians the annual opportunity to enroll as they 
          register their vehicles."  

          They further note that since partnering with DMV, nearly 8 million 
          Californians have signed up for the program.  "However, California 
          still ranks amongst the lowest for those checking 'yes' to 
          donation in comparison to other states.  Just 33% of drivers are 
          organ and tissue donors. By comparison, the top quartile of states 
          averaged a 58% donor designation rate."  

          The author adds, "Giving Californians an annual option to join 
          the Donate Life California Registry will increase the number of 
          donors and help save the lives of thousands of people who are 
          awaiting life-saving transplants."  

           Legislative history  :  AB 1132 (Jones) of 2010 would have 
          required DMV to make information available about organ donation 
          as part of the online vehicle registration renewal process and 
          would have allowed an online contribution to be made during 
          registration renewal for promoting and supporting organ and 
          tissue donation.  Additionally, it would have limited, to 
          $300,000 annually, the amount of DMV's administrative costs that 
          could have been be reimbursed from voluntary contributions made 
          by driver's licensees.  Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill, 
          saying, "While I fully support the Donate Life program, this 
          bill would cap the amount the Department of Motor Vehicles can 
          recover for its administrative costs under the program and 
          removes the flexibility of the Department to cover its future 
          costs as inflation and other expenditures increase."  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Donate Life California (sponsor)
          Blood Centers of California
          California Transplant Donor Network
          Letters from five individuals









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           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093