BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1550
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1550 (Bonilla)
As Amended March 21, 2012
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 14-0 APPROPRIATIONS 15-0
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|Ayes:|Carter, Jeffries, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Achadjian, Blumenfield, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Furutani, Galgiani, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Logue, Miller, Norby, | |Hill, Lara, Mitchell, |
| |Portantino, Solorio | |Nielsen, Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Increases the amount of fees for veterans' specialized
license plates and makes other changes for those license plates
to benefit the County Veterans Service Officer (CVSO) Fund.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the requirement for the supply of license plate decals
to be used up before any new decals could be issued.
2)Increases the fee collected for the veterans' specialized
license plates as follows:
a) For initial issuance of the plates and decals, from $30
to $50;
b) For renewal of registration, from $30 to $40; and,
c) For personalization of plates, from $40 to $98.
3)Clarifies that the special interest license plate program
allows veterans to apply for plates that indicate their
service as well as nonveterans to apply for plates that honor
veterans. Allows the placement of decals upon the specialized
license plates that identifies veterans serving in a
particular war or armed conflict, in the instance where there
is no official declaration of war.
4)Deletes the July 1, 2011, date for the Department of Motor
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Vehicles (DMV) to establish and maintain the veterans'
specialized license plate program on its Web site.
5)Requires, by July 1, 2013, DMV to:
a) Issue distinctive decals to applicants that recognize
their veteran status in, or honoring veterans of, a
particular war or armed conflict, as specified; and,
b) In lieu of a) above, to make available to an applicant,
upon request, a "yellow ribbon/support our troops" decal.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes DMV, among other duties and responsibilities, to
register vehicles for operation or non-operation in the state.
2)Authorizes private organizations to participate in special
interest license plate programs in which the DMV issues
license plates with a participating organization's distinctive
design or decal.
3)Allows any veterans' organization and any registered vehicle
owner to apply for a veterans' special interest license plate,
the proceeds of which are deposited into CVSO Fund, less the
DMV costs. Applicants for the specialized license plates pay
fees for issuance, renewal, or personalization that is
additional to those required for nonspecialized license
plates.
4)Requires money in the CVSO Fund to be available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of
Veterans Affairs for allocation and disbursement to counties
for the operation of CVSOs.
5)Requires DMV, by July 1, 2011, to maintain on its Internet Web
site, a link to order online the special interest plates
issued for veterans.
6)Allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to modify the
distinctive designs of veterans' plates and the associated
decals but prohibits DMV from issuing the new plates or decals
until it has issued all existing inventories of plates and
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decals.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time costs to DMV, likely less than $100,000 in 2012-13,
to make programming changes and form revisions to reflect fee
increases and options described by bill. (Special fund.)
2)Potential minor increase in state revenue available to CVSOs,
which receive a portion of veterans' specialized plate fee
revenue. (CVSO Fund.)
COMMENTS :
Background: The CVSOs are local agencies established in 1946 to
assist veterans and their families in obtaining benefits and
services accrued through military service. They act as the
California Department of Veterans Affairs network for claim
initiation and development. California has an agreement with
counties to pay 50% of the cost of the local CVSO operations.
CVSOs provide a valuable resource for California's large
population of veterans. As the author states, "With offices in
54 of California's 58 counties, and employing over 250 local
government employees, the CVSOs represent a significant resource
to our veteran community. This significant human resource
represents a highly effective and low-cost solution to the
challenges of service delivery to California's large veterans
community. Because CVSOs are located in communities statewide,
they are often the initial point of local contact for claimants
accessing the veterans' benefit system. Clients are also
referred to CVSOs by federal, state and service organization
personnel in recognition of their accessibility and acknowledged
expertise in the field of veterans' services? With nearly two
million veterans and seven million dependents of veterans in
California, CVSOs assist veteran families in obtaining federal
benefits, medical care, and counseling. CVSOs are funded with
both local and state funds and are located in all counties,
except for Sierra and Alpine."
Current law requires that, in order to register a vehicle in
California, the registered owner must pay a registration fee of
$46, a $23 surcharge for additional personnel for the California
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Highway Patrol, various locally-imposed fees, and a vehicle
license fee equal to .65% of a vehicle's value based on purchase
price depreciated according to a statutory schedule.
In addition, for specialized veterans' license plates, a vehicle
owner must pay the following fees as appropriate:
1)$30 for the initial issuance of the plates and decals.
2)$30 annually for each renewal that includes continued display
of the plates and decals.
3)$15 for transfer of the plates to another vehicle.
4)$35 to replace the plates if they become damaged.
5)$10 to replace the decals if they become damaged.
6)$40 to personalize the plates.
Purpose: The purpose of this bill is to increase revenues from
the veterans' organization specialized license plates and raise
funds for CVSOs. This bill would increase some of the related
fees as follows: the fee for initial plate issuance from $30 to
$50; the annual renewal fee from $30 to $40; and, the plate
personalization fee from $40 to $98. It is the author's
contention that the increase in these fees will provide
additional funds to support the CVSOs that assist veterans in
claiming their military and other social benefits. California
has an agreement with counties to pay 50% of the cost to operate
the CVSOs at the counties (currently up to $11 million). The
author further indicates that the fees for the specialized
veterans' license plates have not been updated since 1992 and by
aligning these fees with DMV's other specialized plates it will
augment the funding the state provides to the counties for its
share of CVSO costs.
Additionally, this bill provides an opportunity for individuals,
who may not desire a specialized veterans' license plate, to
support veterans by donating funds, in any amount, to the CVSO
Fund. Lastly, this bill authorizes the license plates to
include decals or stickers that identify various military and
veterans organizations representing a particular war or armed
conflict. Supporters of this bill contend that these new
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stickers allow purchasers the ability to specify which veterans
group they are honoring by the conflict the veteran served in.
It is their belief that this should result in much higher sales
than the original stickers that had limited appeal.
Veteran unit decals: When the original specialized veterans'
license plate program was established, over 100 different
stickers were approved. The supporters of this bill indicate
that, "Most of the decals were for small size units because, at
the time, if was felt that the over two million veterans would
like a "unit" sticker. However, that has not been the case.
Because of the limited appeal of these stickers, only 26,000
veterans' plates have been sold. Many of these designs have not
even sold one sticker. These unit stickers also have not
changed or been added to since the end of the Vietnam War.
Hopefully, these new stickers will have broader appeal to
veterans and encompass stickers from recent and ongoing wars."
Previous legislation: AB 1908 (Cook), Chapter 166, Statutes of
2010, authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to modify
the distinctive designs of veterans' plates and the associated
decals but prohibits DMV from issuing the new plates or decals
until it has issued all existing inventories of plates and
decals.
SB 419 (Senate Veterans Affairs Committee), Chapter 183,
Statutes of 2009, declares that California's 50% share for
administering the CVSOs is approximately $11 million.
AB 3033 (Conroy), Chapter 1275, Statutes of 1992, creates the
special interest license plate program for veterans.
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0003224