BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 443|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CONSENT
Bill No: AB 443
Author: Lowenthal (D), et al.
Amended: 4/4/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 11-0, 6/11/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Roth, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Collection of unpaid parking and toll evasion
penalties
SOURCE : City of Long Beach
DIGEST : This bill, for family transfers only, prohibits
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from transferring ownership
on a vehicle for which a processing agency has filed an
itemization of outstanding parking or toll evasion penalties
until the penalties are paid.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, all parking infractions are
civil offenses. Local governments establish schedules of civil
parking penalties (i.e., fines) and adjudicate and enforce
offenses through civil administrative procedures contained in
state law. If a vehicle owner does not pay a penalty, a city or
county, or its contracted processing agent, may file an
CONTINUED
AB 443
Page
2
itemization of unpaid parking penalties and fees with DMV for
collection with the renewal of the vehicle's registration.
Thereafter, DMV will not renew the registration of the vehicle
unless the owner pays the full amount of all outstanding parking
penalties and administrative fees with the registration or
obtains a clearance from the processing agent. In 2008, the
Legislature enacted AB 2401 (Karnette, Chapter 741) which
protected purchasers of used vehicles from being held liable for
the outstanding parking citations of a previous owner by
requiring DMV to renew the registration of a vehicle if the
outstanding citation was issued prior to the registered owner
taking possession of the vehicle. Identical provisions exist
for the collection of unpaid toll evasion notices.
Existing law further provides that if a processing agency has
filed with DMV an itemization of unpaid parking penalties or
unpaid toll evasion penalties and the vehicle is transferred, or
the registration is not renewed for two renewal periods, DMV
must notify the processing agency of that fact and then is not
required thereafter to attempt collection of the unpaid parking
or toll evasion penalty.
This bill, for transfers of vehicles to family members only,
prohibits DMV from transferring ownership and registration on a
vehicle for which a processing agency has filed an itemization
of outstanding parking or toll evasion penalties, unless the
transferee pays all of the penalties for those violations to DMV
with the transfer or obtains a clearance from the processing
agent or the court. This bill further provides that DMV must
continue to attempt collection of unpaid parking or toll evasion
penalties after a family transfer.
Comments
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, this
bill closes a loophole that allows a scofflaw to continue
registering his/her vehicle without paying delinquent parking or
toll evasion citations by transferring the vehicle's title among
family members. DMV collection of delinquent citations has been
very effective, but these scofflaws have found that simple,
inexpensive family transfers wipe the DMV's record of
outstanding citations clean. The author's office hopes to help
cities, counties, and toll road operators to collect unpaid
citations, which could pay for critical services.
AB 443
Page
3
The author's office states that the City of Long Beach alone has
a balance of $1.6 million in unpaid parking citations that has
accumulated over the last five years.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/13)
City of Long Beach (source)
California Public Parking Association
League of California Cities
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Holden, Logue, Waldron, Vacancy
JA:k 6/25/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****