BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 885
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Date of Hearing: April 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 885 (Cook) - As Amended: April 4, 2011
SUBJECT : Driver's licenses: registered sex offenders
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
include identifying information on the driver's licenses of sex
offenders. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DMV, when issuing an original or renewal driver's
license or identification (ID) card to a person required to be
registered under the Sex Offender Registration Act, to comply
with the following requirements if the person has either been
adjudicated to be a sexually violent predator or was convicted
of a sex offense against a minor:
a) When issuing an original or renewal driver's license or
ID card, include information on the metallic strip that
identifies the person as a sexually violent predator or one
who was convicted of a sex offense against a minor; and,
b) Require such an applicant to provide a current
photograph and address verification for the original
license or ID card, and for each renewal.
1)Requires the applicant, licensee, or ID card holder to pay DMV
a fee to offset the cost of encoding the required information
into the license's or ID card's metallic strip.
2)Requires a person who is issued an original or renewal
driver's license or ID card under these provisions to carry
the license or card at all times outside of his or her place
of residence.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires an applicant for an original driver's license or ID
card to provide proof of legal presence in the United States
AB 885
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and other specified information.
2)Requires a successful driver's license applicant to take and
pass a written test, a behind-the-wheel driving test, and a
vision examination.
3)Requires persons convicted of specified sex offenses to
register with local law enforcement officials within five
working days of coming into a city or county where they are
residing or located if the offender has no residence.
(Typically, a convicted sex offender must update his or her
registration annually within five working days of a
registrant's birthday. The obligation to register as a sex
offender is for life.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author introduced this bill to aid in the
identification of sex offenders in order to assist law
enforcement and others in keeping children safe. Although
information on sex offenders is available through the Megan's
Law database, the author notes that this information is often of
little use in real-world situations as it requires access to the
internet and time to locate a specific individual in the
database.
The author believes it is necessary to have immediate access to
information that indicates whether someone is a sex offender.
He cites the example of campus security at a local high school
detaining an adult on campus and asking to see the person's
identification, a driver's license or ID card. Under this bill,
the presented identification would indicate if that person is a
sex offender, which would facilitate appropriate action on the
part of security. Without this bill, the author asserts that a
person might have no identification, and campus security would
have no indication that a potentially dangerous person is on
campus.
Similarly, in searching for a suspect in a missing child case,
officers could look to the special driver's license or ID card
in order to alert them instantly to the presence of a sex
offender, who may be of particular interest in certain cases.
The author introduced this bill because a distinctive state
driver's license or ID card would provide a quick method by
which to alert people to the presence of a sex offender.
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This bill mandates that DMV issue each registered sex offender a
driver's license or an ID card into which sex offender status
has been encoded. To meet this mandate, DMV would have to
acquire information on the identity of those on the sex offender
registration list. This identification information would have
to be definitive in order for DMV to avoid issuing a sex
offender license or ID card to someone who is not a registered
sex offender, an action with potentially grave consequences.
DMV reports that it is unclear how it could conclusively verify
the identity of a person as a registered sex offender, some of
whom were convicted under an alias.
Existing law requires that motorists have a valid driver's
license in their possession solely in order to drive a motor
vehicle on a highway, street, or off-street parking facility.
This bill attempts to change that for sex offenders. It is
unclear, however, how a mandate requiring sex offenders, and
only sex offenders, to carry a license or ID card at all times
would be enforced. The other 25 million Californians who
possess driver's licenses and ID cards would remain exempt from
any requirement to carry them. Thus, one would presume that a
person not carrying a license or ID card or not producing one
when asked is not a sex offender rather than a sex offender who
is withholding or forgot his or her license or ID card.
Consequently, questions have been raised about this bill's
practical impact. The California Public Defenders Association
contends, "If someone was interested in committing a sex
offense, they would likely NOT carry the card identifying them
as a (Penal Code) 290 registrant. The legislation provides no
consequence for failure to carry the specially marked (driver's
license) or ID card on one's person." They further argue, "The
information is available to law enforcement right now.
Enactment of this legislation will do nothing to make our
communities safer."
Additionally, under this bill, DMV would have to deny sex
offenders the ability to renew by mail or Internet, would
require documents from them that are not requested from anyone
else, and would spend more time processing their applications.
If nothing else, this could degrade levels of service in field
offices, which are already the source of considerable customer
frustration.
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Legislative history : This bill is to some degree a
reintroduction of the author's AB 589 of 2010, which failed
passage in the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing on
a vote of 2-5.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Capitol Resource Family Impact
Public Officers Research Association of California
Opposition
California Public Defenders Association
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093