BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2068
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2068 (Portantino)
As Amended August 14, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |69-0 |(May 25, 2012) |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 20, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Increases fees for distinctive legislative and
congressional member license plates and directs the additional
revenue into the California Environmental License Plate (ELP)
Fund.
The Senate amendments:
1)Align fees for obtaining and transferring distinctive
legislative and congressional member license plates with those
established for the ELP Program.
2)Direct funds collected for distinctive legislative and
congressional member license plates, over and above costs
incurred by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), into the
ELP Fund.
3)Make the bill operative on January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires DMV, upon registering a vehicle, to issue the owner
two license plates to identify the vehicle.
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.
AB 2068
Page 2
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Increased the fee for legislative and congressional member
license plates from $12 to $48.
2)Increased the transfer fee for legislative and congressional
member license plates from $10 to $38.
3)Added a $38 annual renewal fee for legislative and
congressional member license plates.
4)Added a $38 fee for a duplicate legislative and congressional
member license plate.
5)Specified 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill would add revenue, likely less than
$30,000, to the ELP Fund.
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).
3)Personalized license plates.
AB 2068
Page 3
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.
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.
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 ELP Fund.
Recent legislation: AB 11 X4 (Evans), Chapter 11, Statutes of
2008, among other things, raised the voluntary 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.
Delaying the operative date until January 1, 2014, will allow
DMV to avoid overtime costs needed to complete billing and
accounting system adjustments by January 1, 2013.
Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093
FN: 0004884