BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 531
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Date of Hearing: April 17, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 531 (Frazier) - As Amended: March 20, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:16-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the DMV, commencing January 1, 2015, to
print, upon request, the word "VETERAN" on the driver's license
(DL) or identification card (ID) of an armed forces veteran.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DMV to issue a DL or an ID printed with "VETERAN" to
an applicant who presents, in a manner determine by the
department, a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active
Duty (DD Form 214).
2)Requires the DMV to allow an applicant to present verification
that they have received a DD Form 214 from the county veterans
service officer.
3)Directs DMV to charge an additional unspecified fee to an
applicant for a DL or ID requesting the veteran designation
per (1).
4)Requires DMV to forward $1 of the additional fee to the
Controller for deposit in the Veterans Service Officer Fund
(VSOF), to be used, upon appropriation, for support of county
veterans' service offices.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time special fund costs of around $750,000 to DMV for
computer programming and to incorporate the required design
changes as part of the next contract for the DL and ID.
(Motor Vehicle Account (MVA).)
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2)Annual costs of approximately $950,000-equivalent to 16
employees statewide-to DMV, for field office operations, to
collect information and applications in field offices and to
investigate status of applicant's applying for veteran's
insignia. (MVA.)
3)Annual fee revenue to DMV of an unknown amount but presumably
sufficient to recover DMV's one-time costs and support the
ongoing costs. (MVA.) The DMV estimates about 285,000 veterans
would apply annually for this service over the first several
years, and presumes a $5 fee would be sufficient to cover its
costs.
4)Based on DMV assumption in (3), annual fee revenue would be
$285,000 for support of county veterans' service offices.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The veterans groups supporting this bill contend it
allow veterans seeking benefits offered by private parties,
such as department stores and service stations, to easily and
accurately verify their status as veterans. The sponsors also
contend DLs and IDs identifying individuals as veterans will
better enable law enforcement officers and other public agents
with whom they interact and refer them to veterans' services,
if appropriate.
2)Background. California is home to approximately 2 million
veterans.
The Department of Defense (DOD) issues to each active member
of the armed forces an identification card that demonstrates
the person's current participation in the military. The DOD,
however, does not issue identification indicating a person's
status as a veteran. Rather, DOD issues such a person DD form
214, a letter-sized document that contains several types of
personal information. Veteran's groups contend that, in the
past, this form adequately served the needs of veterans, who
needed to present the document only on those generally rare
occasions when veterans interacted with the federal Veterans'
Affairs system.
More recently, an increasing number of private organizations
have offered benefits, such as price discounts, to veterans.
A person could verify eligibility for such benefits by
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presenting DD Form 214. Because of its size, the document is
unlikely to be carried routinely by veterans. In addition,
because the document contains sensitive personal information,
many are reluctant to keep the form with them, in any case.
According to the policy committee analysis, 13 states have
enacted laws similar to this bill.
3)Prior Legislation . This bill is substantially similar to AB
1725 (Lowenthal) of 2012, which was held on this committee's
Suspense file. One difference is that AB 531 would delay
implementation by one-year, which is intended to give the DMV
more time to resolve technical issues.
4)Mission Creep ? As discussed last year with AB 1725, this bill
complicates the work of DMV, which exists, primarily, to
register vehicles and license drivers, a complex job given its
sensitivity and the size of state's population and economy.
The DMV would need to verify the claims of applicants
asserting veteran status. While the bill deems sufficient the
presentation of DD Form 214 or verification from the county
veterans service office that the applicant has received a DD
Form 214, this form is not itself a secure document:
fraudulent DD Form 214s can be obtained online. DMV would
need to develop a protocol for verifying a person's veteran
status, likely a costly, burdensome process to develop and to
implement.
In addition, this bill establishes the precedent of using DLs
and IDs as verifiers of a person's occupation, or previous
occupation. The arguments that justify such an inclusion could
apply equally, or nearly equally, to members of other
occupations, such as police officers and fire fighters, who
sometimes receive private benefits resulting from their
occupation. It seems reasonable to expect calls to expand the
insignia program to cover other occupations and groups, should
this bill become law.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081