BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2068 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 2068 (Portantino) As Amended April 9, 2012 Majority vote TRANSPORTATION 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Campos, Davis, Donnelly, | | |Buchanan, Eng, Ma, | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |Galgiani, Miller, Norby, | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, | | |Portantino | |Solorio, Wagner | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | |Nays:|Charles Calderon | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Increases fees for distinctive legislative and congressional member license plates. Specifically, this bill : 1)Increases the fee for legislative and congressional member license plates from $12 to $48. 2)Increases the transfer fee for legislative and congressional member license plates from $10 to $38. 3)Adds a $38 annual renewal fee for legislative and congressional member license plates. 4)Adds a $38 fee for a duplicate legislative and congressional member license plate. 5)Specifies that additional fees received by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for special legislative and congressional member license plates are to be deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires DMV, upon registering a vehicle, to issue the owner two license plates to identify the vehicle. AB 2068 Page 2 2)Authorizes DMV to issue distinctive license plates to current or former members of the California Legislature or United States Congress. 3)Specifies that, in addition to regular fees for the original registration or renewal, fees for the distinctive plates include $12 for initial issuance of the special plate and $10 for the transfer of the plate to another vehicle. 4)Authorizes DMV to issue a variety of other license plates. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would add an insignificant amount of annual revenue, likely less than $30,000, to the DMV Motor Vehicle Account which supports the administrative work of the DMV and the California Highway Patrol. COMMENTS : DMV began issuing distinctive license plates for legislative or congressional members in 1978. These license plates denote that the person is or was a member of the California Legislature or member of the United States Congress. Fees for these license plates, in addition to regular registration fees, are set at $12 for the initial issuance of the license plate and $10 to transfer the license plate to another vehicle. DMV issues a whole host of license plates, including: 1)Special license plates (e.g., amateur radio station, Gold Star Family, Congressional Medal of Honor, press photographer, horseless carriage, and Pearl Harbor survivor, among others); 2)Special interest license plates (e.g., environmental, memorial, Arts Council, Coastal Commission, firefighters, and Yosemite Foundation, among others); and, 3)Personalized license plates. According to the DMV, direct and administrative costs for legislative and congressional member license plates is $6.00 to produce the plate and between $18 and $20 for related administrative processing. AB 2068 Page 3 The author argues that the statutorily prescribed fees for these legislative and congressional member license plates are not sufficient to cover DMV's direct costs. He has introduced this bill to increase the fees for legislative or congressional member license plates so that DMV's costs are fully recovered. The increased fee rates prescribed in this bill mirror those set forth for special interest license plates. It is important to note that, for special interest license plates, a portion of the fees collected supports the particular special interest, for example, the Yosemite Foundation. This bill will generate monies from legislative and congressional member license plates over and above DMV's direct costs. These additional funds will be directed into the Motor Vehicle Account. It is not clear what the author's intent is, if any, regarding the additional revenue that would be generated as this bill provides no further parameters governing the use of this money. Recent legislation: AB 11 X4 (Evans), Chapter 11, Statutes of 2008, among other things, raised the voluntary Environmental License Plate Fund (ELP) fee by $8 per plate (to $48 for new plates and $38 for renewals). That fee increase generated approximately $3 million in revenues annually and was used to off-set cuts in the state's resources departments. Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319- 2093 FN: 0003664