BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 49
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 49 (Buchanan)
As Amended April 18, 2013
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 16-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|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 | | |
| | | | |
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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
Page 2
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
FN: 0000820