BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1657|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1657
Author: Wieckowski (D)
Amended: 8/14/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 5-2, 6/26/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Lowenthal, Rubio, Simitian, Wyland
NOES: Gaines, Harman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Kehoe, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/6/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-24, 5/31/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Traffic offenses: penalty for spinal cord
injury research
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill imposes a $1 assessment upon every
conviction for a violation of any rule of the road and
directs the funds, upon appropriation of the Legislature,
to the University of California's spinal cord injury
research programs.
ANALYSIS : Existing law permits the University of
California, upon a resolution of the regents, to establish
the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund and expend
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public and private funds that it receives solely for spinal
cord injury research programs and grants as well as for the
costs of peer review and grant administration.
Pursuant to a 2010 budget trailer bill, SB 857 (Senate
Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 720, the
Judicial Council has convened a Court-Ordered Debt Task
Force to identify and evaluate the fees, fines,
forfeitures, penalties, and assessments currently in place.
Final recommendations may be available this summer.
This bill:
1.Imposes an additional $1 penalty on each conviction for a
violation of Vehicle Code provisions related to "rules of
the road" (traffic violations), and violations of local
ordinances adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code.
2.Requires revenues collected by the bill be deposited with
the county treasurer who shall transfer the moneys on
March 15 and October 15 of each year to the State
Treasurer for deposit in the Roman Reed Spinal Cord
Research Penalty Fund, created by this bill. Upon
appropriation of the Legislature, the funds will be
expended by the Regents of the University of California
for spinal cord injury research.
3.Authorizes a county treasurer to withhold a sufficient
amount of penalty revenues to reimburse the county and
courts for actual, reasonable, and necessary costs
associated with administering the new penalty assessment.
Background
The Reeve-Irvine Research Center (Center) at UC Irvine
administers the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Program. The
program has two components: 1) a core laboratory on the
Irvine Campus that allows for the rapid translation of
ideas into research by making it possible for any scientist
with a novel idea to undertake experiments in a
state-of-the-art facility with well-developed animal
models; and 2) a grant program to launch unique, creative
research projects by scientists throughout California and
forums bringing grant recipients together to share their
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work.
A report the Center produced does not describe
breakthroughs developed to date that have significantly
increased independence for persons with spinal cord
injuries or reduced state health expenditures but also
states that the laboratory and grant program "are expanding
the number of scientists working on spinal cord injury
research, which will accelerate progress towards
treatments."
Ron Reed, the father of Roman Reed, states that a grant
from the Center made possible the research that first
resulted in rats with modeled spinal cord injuries being
able to walk again. He also cites advances such as
cost-saving new methods of rehabilitation using robotics, a
helmet which reads brain waves so a paralyzed person can
control a computer, an electronic bridge to surpass the
wound injury scar, and a way to reduce the injury itself by
modifying the body's immune reaction.
Current assessments . Existing law imposes the following
penalty assessments and fees on the base fine for any
traffic offense:
State assessment: $10 for every $10
State surcharge: 20% surcharge
Court operations assessment: $40 per offense
Court construction assessment:$5 for every $10
Conviction assessment: $35 per infraction
County assessment: $7 for every $10
Emergency medical services assessment:$2 for every $10
DNA identification assessment:$4 for every $10
Emergency air ambulance assessment:$4 per offense
Traffic violator school monitoring fee:$52 per offense if
eligible for
traffic school
As a result, a common $35 base fine becomes a $233 penalty,
and possibly a $285 penalty if the violator is eligible for
traffic school. A $100 base fine becomes a $479 or $531
penalty. Persons who cannot pay penalties may not be able
to re-register their vehicle and therefore lose access to a
vehicle.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time statewide costs to the courts in the range of
$150,000 to $300,000 (Trial Court Trust Fund) for
programming the new $1 assessment into county case
management systems. These costs could be partially or
fully offset if counties opt to withhold a portion of the
penalty assessment revenues sufficient to cover
administrative costs incurred by the courts.
Likely minor costs to county treasurers to transfer
penalty assessment revenues to the State Treasurer
(non-reimbursable mandated costs). County costs could be
partially or fully offset if counties opt to withhold a
portion of penalty assessment revenues sufficient to
cover their administrative costs.
Potential penalty revenue gains in the range of $3.5
million for allocation to the University of California's
Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Penalty Account,
upon appropriation by the Legislature.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/14/12)
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
AFSCME
BayBio
Boston Scientific
California Healthcare Institute
California Hepatitis C Task Force
Fremont City Councilmember Bill Harrison
Fremont City Vice Mayor Ann Natajaran
Genetics Policy Institute
Missouri Cures
StemCyte
Texans for Stem Cell Research
University of California
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/14/12)
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Automobile Club of Southern California
California Catholic Conference
California Public Defenders Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
California is home to approximately 650,000 people living
with paralysis, and this number is increasing steadily.
Health care costs and lost income potential associated with
spinal injuries cost the State of California upwards of $1
billion per year. Promising research-driven therapies
currently underway, however, could greatly improve the
quality of life and functionality of individuals with
spinal cord injuries and offset a significant portion of
these state costs.
Between 2000 and 2009, $15.1 million in state contributions
to the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund
leveraged $63 million in non-state funds to finance 129
research projects. Unfortunately, the current fiscal
condition of the state has all but eliminated the original
General Fund support for the program. To continue
receiving matching funds and provide extensive research, a
new funding source is necessary. Because motor vehicle
accidents cause nearly 46% of all reported spinal cord
injury cases and 56% of cases in children, the author
believes vehicle assessments are an appropriate source.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents argue that
assessments have increased exponentially and today fund a
plethora of programs unrelated to traffic safety. They
question the nexus between spinal cord injury and all of
the crimes to which the $1 assessment would attach, and
they point out that there are many causes of spinal cord
injury and that the bill requires only motorists to
shoulder the burden of funding research. In addition, the
California Catholic Conference believes that this bill will
divert enhanced traffic fine penalties to the funding of
immoral and scientifically unproven embryonic stem cell
research.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-24, 5/31/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Atkins, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon,
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Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Gatto, Hall, Hayashi,
Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mitchell, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Garrick, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Miller, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Bonilla, Fletcher, Furutani,
Gordon, Mansoor, Mendoza, Monning, Norby, Valadao
JJA:n 8/14/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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