BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 1733 (Quirk-Silva, Atkins, and Maienschein) - Public records:  
          fee waiver.
          
          Amended: June 26, 2014          Policy Vote: Health 8-0, T&H  
          11-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: August 4, 2014                            
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 1733 would require local governments to issue a  
          birth certificate without charging a fee to any person who  
          demonstrates that he or she is homeless. The bill requires the  
          Department of Motor Vehicles to issue an identification card  
          without charging a fee to any person who demonstrates that he or  
          she is homeless.

          Fiscal Impact: According to the federal Department of Housing  
          and Urban Development, there are about 136,000 homeless people  
          in California at any given time. Many of those homeless  
          individuals are homeless for a short time and may not have lost  
          track of their identification documents necessary for  
          application for public assistance programs. It is likely that  
          only a small portion of the homeless population will request a  
          free copy of their birth certificate or DMV-issued  
          identification card in any given year. (Also, only homeless  
          individuals who are still located in the county of their birth  
          are likely to request a copy of their birth certificate since a  
          request by mail must be notarized, creating additional costs.)  
          The following cost estimates assume that 5 percent of the  
          state's homeless population request copies of these documents  
          each year.

              One-time costs of about $300,000 for the development of  
              regulations and information technology changes to allow the  
              Department of Motor Vehicles to issue no-cost identification  
              cards (Motor Vehicle Account).

              Ongoing cost of about $115,000 per year for the Department  
              of Motor Vehicles to issue no-cost identification cards  








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              (Motor Vehicle Account).

              Ongoing costs to local registrars and county recorders of  
              about $140,000 per year (local funds or General Fund). (This  
              analysis assumes that the fee charged to issues a birth  
              certificate generally covers the cost to issue the  
              document.) Local registrars or county recorders typically  
              charge around $25 for a copy of a birth certificate. Of that  
              fee, $4.55 is remitted to the Department of Public Health to  
              fund various programs relating to vital records. Because the  
              state is mandating local government to issue no-cost birth  
              certificates, this bill creates a reimbursable state  
              mandate. Whether counties file mandate claims and the size  
              of those claims for those costs would depend on their actual  
              costs.

              Ongoing revenue loss to the Department of Public health of  
              about $30,000 due to reduced birth certificate fees (various  
              funds).

          Background: Under current law, the State Registrar of Vital  
          Statistics, a local registrar, or a county recorder must issue a  
          copy of a birth certificate, upon payment of a fee, provided the  
          applicant demonstrates that he or she is an authorized person to  
          receive such a document (such as the person who is the subject  
          of the record, law enforcement, etc.).

          Under current law, the Department of Motor Vehicles is required  
          to issue an identification card (not a driver's license) to any  
          person who provides identifying data, as required by the  
          Department and pays a fee of $26 for an original identification  
          card. However, an individual who qualifies for certain low  
          income public assistance programs can receive an identification  
          card for a fee of $6.

          Proposed Law: AB 1733 would require local governments to issue a  
          birth certificate without charging a fee to any person who  
          demonstrates that he or she is homeless. This requirement would  
          go into effect on July 1, 2015. In order to receive a birth  
          certificate under the bill, an applicant must provide an  
          affidavit, signed by a homeless services provider, as defined.

          The bill would require the Department of Public Health to  
          develop the affidavit and would exempt that process from the  








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          requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.

          The bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue an  
          identification card without charging a fee to any person who  
          demonstrates that he or she is homeless. This requirement would  
          go into effect on January 1, 2016. The Department would be  
          authorized to adopt regulations to specify the requirements for  
          receiving an identification card under the bill.