BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2489| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2489 Author: Hall (D) Amended: 8/22/12 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 7-1, 6/26/12 AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Lowenthal, Pavley, Rubio, Wyland NOES: Simitian NO VOTE RECORDED: Kehoe SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/14/12 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Obstruction or alteration of license plates SOURCE : Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Los Angeles Professional Peace Officers Association Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department DIGEST : This bill prohibits a person from altering or covering a license plate in order to avoid law enforcement reading the license plate with a camera. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/22/12 add double-jointing language with AB 2679 (Assembly Transportation Committee) and resolve chaptering conflicts with SB 1144 (Strickland). CONTINUED AB 2489 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Under existing law, when the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issues license plates for a vehicle, those plates must be securely fastened to the vehicle so they do not swing, be mounted in a position to be clearly visible, and maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible. Typically, a driver or vehicle owner cited for displaying an altered plate receives a fix-it ticket. To resolve this fix-it ticket, a person must show a peace officer that the vehicle in question now has an unaltered license plate, have the peace officer sign the ticket, and then return that ticket with $25 to the court. Existing law also expressly prohibits installing on a vehicle any casing, shield, frame, border, product, or other device that obstructs or impairs the reading or recognition of a license plate by an electronic device that state or local law enforcement, a toll collection facility, or the state's smog check program uses. A citation for violating this provision carries a fine of $25, which with additional assessments results in a total penalty of $194. It is also illegal to sell such a product and existing law imposes a fine of $250 for each sale of such a product, which results in a total penalty of $1,080 per sale. This bill: 1. Prohibits a person from operating a vehicle with any casing, shield, frame, border, product or other device that obstructs or impairs the reading or recognition of a license plate by an electronic device that state or local law enforcement, a toll collection facility, or the state's smog check program uses. 2. Prohibits a person from erasing the reflective coating of, painting over, or altering a license plate in order to avoid visual or electronic capture of the plate by law enforcement. 3. Prescribes a penalty of up to $250, which with assessments is a total penalty of $1,080, for violation of either of these prohibitions. CONTINUED AB 2489 Page 3 4. Contains double-jointing language with AB 2679 (Assembly Transportation Committee). Comments Purpose of the bill . The author introduced this bill in response to a growing problem in Southern California of individuals scratching or lacquering over the reflective white backing of vehicle license plates to avoid detection by law enforcement's cameras and scanners that read license plates. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department began deploying automatic license plate recognition 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 on-board system then checks the plates against a database of stolen vehicles, vehicles used in crimes, and wanted persons associated with those vehicles. When the camera spots any such vehicle, the on-board system instantly notifies the deputy driving the patrol car. 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 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 technology. Law enforcement agencies throughout the country use these cameras, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reports that it currently has over 70 mobile license plate reader systems and 21 fixed systems deployed in Los Angeles County. 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. Proponents report that criminals have become aware of this technology and are altering license plates to defeat it. The author introduced this bill to address this issue by increasing the base fine for this act from $25 to $250, CONTINUED AB 2489 Page 4 which increases the total penalty from $194 to $1,080. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 8/22/12) Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (co-source) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (co-source) Los Angeles Professional Peace Officers' Association (co-source) Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs California Fraternal Order of Police California Peace Officers Association California Public Parking Association California State Sheriffs' Association Long Beach Police Officers Association Los Angeles Police Protective League Peace Officers Research Association of California Riverside Deputy Sheriffs Association Riverside Sheriffs' Association Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association Santa Ana Police Officers Association ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/14/12 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Fletcher, Perea, Valadao JJA:m 8/23/12 Senate Floor Analyses CONTINUED AB 2489 Page 5 SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED