BILL ANALYSIS Ó
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 627|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 627
Author: Walters (R)
Amended: 4/25/11
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-0, 4/26/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley,
Rubio, Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIAITONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : License renewal applications for owners,
operators, and
instructors of driving schools and traffic
violator schools.
SOURCE : Driving School Association of California, Inc.
Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc.
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Motor
Vehicles to approve or disapprove a license renewal
application for an owner, operator, or instructor of a
driving school or traffic violator school within 30 days of
receiving a complete application.
ANALYSIS : A driving school is a business that, for
compensation, conducts instruction in the operation of
motor vehicles, including classroom driver education,
in-vehicle driver training, and correspondence study.
CONTINUED
SB 627
Page
2
A traffic violator school is a business that, for
compensation, provides instruction in traffic safety,
including classroom traffic violator curricula, for persons
referred by a court or to other persons who elect to
attend.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to license the owners, operators, and instructors,
including all-terrain vehicle safety instructors, of both
driving schools and traffic violator schools and specifies
the requirements that must be met to obtain and renew such
a license. All requirements must be met within one year of
application for a license. Owners and operators must renew
their license each year while instructors must renew their
license every three years.
This bill requires DMV to approve or disapprove a license
renewal application for an owner, operator, or instructor
of a driving school or traffic violator school within 30
days of receiving a complete application.
Comments
Current DMV practice . DMV processes approximately 200
renewal applications per year. It mails renewal notices to
licensees 45 days in advance of the license's expiration
date. Once a renewal application is completed, the review
of the application takes about 30 minutes and, for owners
and operators, includes a review of classrooms operated by
the school. DMV notes that many applications received in
the mail are incomplete and postmarked the final week prior
to the license's expiration date. Currently, there is not
a backlog at DMV for the renewal of licenses, but it did
experience a five-day delay at the end of December. With
regard to penalizing owners, operators, and instructors
whose license has expired, DMV does not typically take
administrative action or fine a driving school or traffic
violator school for the sole reason of operating with an
expired license but will instead contact the owner when the
license has been expired for 45 days to inquire whether the
school is still operating.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
SB 627
Page
3
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/10/11)
Driving School Association of California, Inc. (co-source)
Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc. (co-source)
California Traffic School Association, Inc.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the sponsors, the
Driving School Association of California, Inc. and Traffic
Safety Consultants, Inc., DMV is frequently unable to renew
the license of a driving school or traffic violator school
licensee prior to the license's expiration date even though
the licensee has applied for license renewal weeks, and
often months, prior to the license expiration date and has
met all renewal requirements. This delay puts licensees in
the position of conducting business in violation of the law
through no fault of their own.
The sponsor explains that conducting business with an
invalid license puts stress and uncertainty on licensees.
Under these situations, licensees call DMV at its
Sacramento headquarters asking when their license will be
renewed without receiving satisfactory response or remedy.
Licensees who face this frustration are fearful of
disciplinary action the DMV may take for conducting
business with an expired license. In the case of a school
owner, the owner fears the possible loss of his or her
license to operate, placing the continued employment of
instructors and operators at risk.
The sponsors are concerned that the enactment of AB 2499,
Chapter 599, Statutes of 2010, will exacerbate this problem
by requiring DMV to license and regulate online and other
home-study traffic violator school programs, entities that
heretofore DMV did not have authority to license. This
bill seeks to provide assurance to licensees that their
licenses will be renewed in a timely manner.
JJA:do 5/10/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
SB 627
Page
4
**** END ****