BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2489
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 16, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
                     AB 2489 (Hall) - As Amended:  March 27, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :  Vehicles: license plates: alteration

           SUMMARY  :  Increases the fine for altering a license plate to 
          avoid visual or electronic recognition from $25 to $250.  
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Makes it an infraction, punishable by a fine of not more than 
            $250, to alter or deface a vehicle license plate.  

          2)Defines "altered" as defacing a license plate to avoid visual 
            or electronic recognition of the license plate or its 
            characters.  

          3)Defines "defacing" to include painting over or erasing the 
            reflective coating of a license plate.  

           EXISTING LAW  :  

          1)Provides that displaying an altered vehicle license plate is 
            an infraction punishable by a fine of $25.  

          2)Provides that altering, forging, counterfeiting, or falsifying 
            a certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, 
            license, or license plate, with the intent to prejudice, 
            damage, or defraud is a felony punishable by imprisonment in 
            the state prison for between 16 months to 3 years and a fine 
            of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author and sponsor, criminals are 
          defacing license plates so that they can avoid being apprehended 
          by law enforcement that uses Automatic License Plate Recognition 
          (ALPR) cameras to read license plates and determine whether or 
          not a vehicle is wanted.  This bill would make it an infraction, 
          punishable by a fine of up to $250, to alter a vehicle's license 
          plate to avoid detection by ALPR cameras.  

          The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department began deploying ALPR 








                                                                  AB 2489
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          cameras in 2007.  The cameras are mounted to the light bar on 
          patrol cars so that when the patrol car travels along a roadway, 
          the cameras automatically "read" license plates of all vehicles 
          that enter the camera's view.  The license plate numbers that 
          are detected are automatically checked against an on-board 
          computer database of wanted vehicles and the deputy driving the 
          patrol car is instantly notified if a wanted vehicle is 
          detected.  To be able to read license plates, the cameras scan 
          and translate the numbers and letters on the license plate using 
          an optical character recognition (OCR) program.  The system 
          additionally takes a date and time stamped photograph of 
          vehicles and registers the exact location where the vehicle was 
          photographed, using global positioning system (GPS) technology.  


          These cameras are used extensively throughout the country and 
          currently over 70 mobile ALPR systems and 21 fixed systems are 
          deployed by the Los Angeles Sheriffs' Department.  Law 
          enforcement officials claim that these systems have been 
          instrumental in locating stolen vehicles and apprehending 
          criminals.  Investigators also use information derived from 
          these systems to determine the whereabouts of stolen vehicles so 
          that they can be traced and located.  

          According to the author, since the deployment of APLR camera 
          systems have been published in the media, many suspects are now 
          altering license plates of wanted vehicles to avoid detection.  
          Simple scratching, lacquering, or painting over the reflective 
          backing of a license plate or tampering with the lettering can 
          make the plate unreadable by the OCR.  Currently, the law 
          specifies that a vehicle license plate cannot be displayed if it 
          is altered from its original markings, however, the law does not 
          specifically define actions that constitute altering a license 
          plate nor does it specifically address altering of a license 
          plate to avoid electronic detection.  This bill would 
          specifically address the act of defacing a license plate to 
          avoid electronic detection and raise the fine for this act from 
          $25 to $250 bringing the violation in line with similar offenses 
          such as altering or falsifying a license plate, with the intent 
          to prejudice, damage, or defraud, which is a felony that carries 
          a fine of between $500 and $1,000.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  : 

           Support 








                                                                 AB 2489
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          Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (Co-Sponsor)
          Los Angeles Professional Peace Officers' Association 
          (Co-Sponsor)
          Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
          California Fraternal Order of Police
          Long Beach Police Officers Association
          Peace Officers Research Association of California
          Riverside Sheriffs' Association
          Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association
          Santa Ana Police Officers Association

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :   Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319- 
          2093