BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 49
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 49 (Buchanan)
          As Amended  April 18, 2013
          Majority vote 

           TRANSPORTATION      16-0        APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Gordon, Linder,           |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow,   |
          |     |Achadjian, Ammiano,       |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Blumenfield, Bonta,       |     |Calderon, Campos,         |
          |     |Buchanan, Daly, Frazier,  |     |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez,  |
          |     |Gatto, Holden, Logue,     |     |Hall, Ammiano, Linder,    |
          |     |Morrell, Nazarian,        |     |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
          |     |Patterson, Quirk-Silva    |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Department of Health Care  
          Services (DHCS) to apply to the California Department of Motor  
          Vehicles (DMV) to sponsor a breast cancer awareness, full-plate  
          graphic license plate.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Requires DHCS to apply to DMV to sponsor a breast cancer  
            awareness specialty license plate.  

          2)Requires DMV to issue the license plates provided that the  
            existing requirements of the specialty license plate program  
            are met, with an exception for a full-plate graphic design.  

          3)Requires the breast cancer awareness license plates to bear a  
            full-plate graphic design that DMV determines, in consultation  
            with the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP),  
            does not obscure the readability of the license plate.  

          4)Requires that the plate include a pink background and the pink  
            breast cancer awareness ribbon, as approved by DHCS.  

          5)Requires the revenue generated from the additional fees for  
            the specialty license plates be deposited, after DMV deducts  
            its administrative costs, in the Breast Cancer Control Account  
            in the Breast Cancer Fund.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee:








                                                                  AB 49
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          1)Potential one-time special fund costs of approximately  
            $400,000 to DMV to establish the breast cancer awareness  
            license plate program.  All of the DMV initial and ongoing  
            costs will be covered by a portion of the additional $50 fee  
            paid for specialized license plates.  

          2)Minor costs to DHCS to submit the program application and  
            license prototype to DMV, design and print the license plate  
            application, and collect and hold applications and fees until  
            7,500 applications are received.  It is expected that DHCS  
            will receive assistance with these activities from nonprofit  
            organizations interested in this program.  DHCS's costs will  
            eventually be recovered assuming sufficient participation in  
            the program.  

          3)Potential ongoing additional revenue to the Breast Cancer  
            Control Account, depending on the number of participants in  
            the license plate program.  

           COMMENTS  :  Prior to 2007, any new special interest license plate  
          required specific legislative authorization.  That practice was  
          held to be unconstitutional by the federal courts in that the  
          Legislature approved some of the plates and rejected others,  
          while using no standardized or objective criteria for those  
          decisions.  In response to the court decision, AB 84 (Leslie),  
          Chapter 454, Statutes of 2006, established the current  
          specialized license plate program to provide a forum for  
          government speech that promotes California's state policies.  AB  
          84 excludes private organizations from seeking specialized  
          license plates as a forum for private speech, and thus addresses  
          the court's objection.  Plates now created and the revenue they  
          generate must publicize or promote a state agency, or the  
          official policy, mission, or work of a state agency.   
          Furthermore, the process requires that at least 7,500 paid  
          applications must be received by the state agency prior to  
          notifying DMV.  The 7,500-application threshold was previously  
          put into statute for special interest license plates and was  
          arrived at in an attempt to assure that DMV's startup costs  
          would be fully covered by the portion of the registration fee  
          surcharge that is directed to DMV and to avoid a proliferation  
          of different types of plates, which can be troublesome from a  
          law enforcement perspective.  









                                                                  AB 49
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          Although this bill purports to comply with the administrative  
          processes for the adoption of specialty license plates as  
          administered by DMV, this bill would essentially establish a  
          parallel AB 84 process that includes a specific exception to the  
          prohibition of full-plate graphic design license plates.   
          Further, this bill would put the Legislature back in the  
          business of picking and choosing specific license plate  
          messages, promoting the message of some organizations while  
          denying this right to others, an activity the courts have  
          frowned upon.  

          In justifying the need for this bill, the author intends to  
          create a new pink breast cancer awareness license plate  
          basically utilizing the existing specialized license plate  
          program requirements established in law and administered by DMV  
          while, at the same time, requiring the plate to have a  
          full-plate graphic design upon the concurrent approval of DMV  
          and CHP.  

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :   Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 


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