BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1658
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: gatto
VERSION: 6/18/12
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 26, 2012
SUBJECT:
California legacy license plates
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes a legacy license plate program through
which the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) shall issue
specialized license plates that replicate the look of California
license plates from the state's past.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law establishes a basic vehicle registration fee of
$46, plus a $23 surcharge for additional personnel for the
California Highway Patrol (CHP). When registering a vehicle,
the owner may request an environmental license plate with a
personalized message or any of a number of special interest
plates that contain a design promoting a certain policy program,
such as veterans' services or the California Coastal Commission.
To receive and annually renew these special license plates, the
vehicle owner must pay additional fees typically of about $50
for issuance and $40 for renewal.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), when initially
registering a vehicle, issues the owner license plates, which
the owner must affix to the vehicle to identify it. Since the
1920s, California has had many plate background and character
color combinations.
In 1963, California replaced all existing license plates with
the yellow-on-black plates.
From 1963 through 1969, DMV issued both passenger and commercial
vehicles the yellow-on-black plates. DMV continued to issue the
yellow-on-black plates to commercial vehicles and pick-up trucks
until 1972.
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Beginning in 1970, DMV issued yellow-on-blue plates, and then in
the 1980s, began issuing blue-on-white plates. Many vehicles on
the road today that date from the 1960s and 1970s display the
yellow-on-black or yellow-on-blue plates. Only those vehicles
on the road from that time that lost their plates or had their
plates damaged display newer plates.
Existing law allows an owner of a vehicle that is a 1969 or
older model-year passenger vehicle or a 1972 or older commercial
vehicle or pick-up truck, with the DMV's approval and upon
paying specified fees, to use California license plates from the
model year of the vehicle. The vehicle owner acquires these
plates from a private party. DMV must deem these plates to be
legible and serviceable. These are called "year-of-manufacture"
plates, for which the person registering the vehicle must pay a
$45 application fee and then a $10 fee each year when renewing
the registration of the vehicle displaying the year of
manufacture plates.
This bill :
1.Directs DMV to create and issue a series of specialized
license plates to be known as California Legacy License Plates
that DMV would make as nearly identical as reasonably feasible
under current manufacturing processes for license plates. DMV
shall create one or more of the following designs for these
plates:
a. Yellow background with black lettering similar to the
appearance of California license plates from 1956 through
1962;
b. Black background with yellow lettering similar to the
appearance of California license plates from 1965 to 1968;
c. Blue background with yellow lettering similar to the
appearance of California license plates from 1969 through
1986.
2.Imposes additional fees for legacy plates of $50 for original
issuance, $40 for annual renewal, $15 to transfer to another
vehicle, and $35 for replacement.
3.Precludes DMV from issuing any of these plates until it has
received at least 7,500 paid applications for legacy license
plates. If it does not receive 7,500 paid applications by
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January 1, 2015, then DMV must immediately refund all the
application fees that it has received.
4.Makes monies available to pay DMV's costs to establish the
California Legacy License Plate Program only after DMV
determines that it has collected sufficient fees to pay its
startup costs and the Legislature appropriates the funds.
5.Directs DMV to deduct its costs for the legacy plates from the
fees its receives and to deposit the remaining revenues into
the California Environmental License Plate Fund, which upon
legislative appropriation supports a variety of state
activities that have some environmental connection.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author introduced this bill to bring a retro
look to modern license plates by allowing consumers to choose
from one of three classic designs from the 1950s-1960s (black
lettering on yellow background or yellow lettering on black
background) and 1970s-1980s (yellow lettering on blue
background). In addition to giving consumers new options on
what sort of license plate to use on their vehicles, it would
provide classic car collectors a risk-free way to acquire
plates that match the vintage of their vehicles. Currently,
classic car owners can revive old plates that match the
vintage of their vehicle. Unfortunately, unscrupulous sellers
sometimes pass off counterfeit reproductions as genuine
"vintage" plates. The legacy license plates would provide
collectors an opportunity, if they choose, to put plates on
their vehicles that match the era of their vehicle without
fear of being sold fake plates.
2."Retro" plates likely not too retro looking. The bill calls
for license plates that replicate the look of past plates. To
enhance readability for law enforcement, California law has
long required that license plates must meet various, specific
requirements, such as reflectivity and font types, that differ
from the requirements of the old plates this bill would
replicate. For this reason, it is likely the plates produced
as a result of this bill will differ considerably from
historic plates with similar color schemes.
3.7,500 of one or a total of 7,500 ? It is unclear under this
bill whether DMV must collect 7,500 paid applications for one
of the three replica plates or 7,500 for all three authorized
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under this bill in order to establish a legacy plate or
plates. Existing law directs DMV to establish state-agency
sponsored special interest plates once the state agency
collects 7,500 paid applications, because that is the number
of paid applications sufficient to cover DMV's costs of about
$385,000 to initiate a new license plate. The committee may
wish to amend this bill to clarify that DMV must receive at
least 7,500 applications for one of these plates in order to
initiate that one plate.
4.Purpose of a license plate . Unlike the existing
year-of-manufacture program under which a person who owns a
historic vehicle can put a license plate from the year that
vehicle was manufactured on the vehicle, this bill allows an
old-looking license plate to go on any car, regardless of the
year the car was manufactured. The idea behind these license
plates is that they would look good. The committee may
question, however, whether the purpose of a license plate is
to enhance a vehicle's aesthetic value or to identify that
vehicle to law enforcement.
5.Committee policy . This committee has long had a policy that
reads: "The committee will not consider any measure that would
authorize the issuance of a license plate bearing unique
graphics or insignia or identifying a particular group
affiliation." It does not appear that this bill violates
that policy, as these plates would not bear unique graphics,
but would rather replicate old graphics that already exist on
California plates.
6.Technical amendment . On page 3, line 16, delete "subdivision"
to insert "section"
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 76 - 0
Appr: 17 - 0
Trans: 14 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 20,
2012)
SUPPORT: American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
Association of California Car Clubs
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OPPOSED: None received.