BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 443
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 443 (Lowenthal) - As Amended: April 4, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:16-0 (Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the DMV to collect all unpaid parking
citations from a vehicle owner before title of the vehicle can
be transferred to a family member using the DMV's family
transfer process.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor one-time programming costs (under $50,000) to the DMV
for system modifications, and minor impacts on field office
staff to explain the new requirements.
2)Increased revenue to cities and counties from additional
collections of unpaid citations through the DMV.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Existing law authorizes DMV to keep a record of
delinquent parking citations associated with a vehicle and to
collect the unpaid citations from the vehicle's owner before
the vehicle can be re-registered. AB 2401 (Karnette)/Chapter
741 of 2008, specified that if a vehicle's title is
transferred to a new owner, DMV is required to return the
citations to the jurisdiction that issued them. Upon return,
the citations become that jurisdiction's responsibility in
terms of collections. When DMV removes the record of
delinquent citations, the vehicle's title is effectively
"washed" and the former citations are no longer associated
with the vehicle's title and no longer show up on DMV's
records. This prevents the new owner from being burdened with
citations issued to the vehicle's previous owner.
AB 443
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If the vehicle is being transferred between family members, a
family transfer of title process can be utilized, which costs
$15 and exempts the parties from use tax and license fees and
the requirement for to obtain a smog certification. Scofflaws
have discovered they can use the family transfer process as a
low-cost way to erase DMV's record of delinquent citations
from a vehicle's record, thus allowing them to re-register the
vehicle without paying the delinquent citations.
2)Purpose . Audits conducted by the City of Long Beach (sponsor)
show an overwhelming number of vehicles with unpaid parking
citations in their jurisdiction do not reflect the current
vehicle owner, indicating that ownership transfers are
frequently used to avoid payment. While AB 443 does not
eliminate the possibility that individuals will sell a vehicle
to an unsuspecting buyer to remove delinquent citations from a
vehicle's title, it does eliminate the opportunity for
scofflaws to use the family transfer process as a quick, easy,
and inexpensive way to get out of paying their parking
tickets.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081