Amended in Assembly April 9, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1986


Introduced by Assembly Member Linder

February 19, 2014


An act to amendbegin insert and repealend insert Sectionbegin delete 11202end deletebegin insert 11205end insert of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1986, as amended, Linder. Vehicles: traffic violator school program.

begin insert

Existing law provides for the licensing and administration by the Department of Motor Vehicles of traffic violator schools, operators, and instructors. Existing law authorizes a court, after a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture, a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, to order or permit a person who holds a specified class of driver’s license who pleads guilty or no contest to, or is convicted of, a traffic offense to attend a traffic violator school. Existing law requires the court to make available to each person who is ordered to attend traffic violator school the department’s current list of licensed traffic violator schools.

end insert
begin insert

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide a list of licensed traffic violator schools on its Internet Web site, as specified. For each licensed school, existing law requires the list to indicate, among other things, the modalities of instruction offered. When a court or traffic assistance program (TAP) provides a hard copy list of licensed traffic violator schools to a traffic violator, existing law requires the court or TAP to provide only a current date-stamped list downloaded from the department’s Internet Web site.

end insert
begin insert

This bill would require a list of licensed traffic violator schools to include only those schools that offer classroom-based instruction, and would delete the requirement that the list indicate the modalities of instruction offered for each licensed traffic violator school.

end insert
begin delete

Existing law provides for the licensing and administration by the Department of Motor Vehicles of traffic violator schools, operators, and instructors. Existing law authorizes a court, after a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture, a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, to order a continuance of the proceeding against a person who receives a notice to appear in court for a violation of a statute relating to the safe operation of a vehicle, in consideration of completion of a program at a licensed school for traffic violators, and to order that the conviction be held confidential, except as specified.

end delete
begin delete

Existing law establishes traffic violator school licensing requirements and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to license traffic violator school operators. Existing law authorizes a person to be an operator for more than one traffic school if the schools have a common owner or owners and the schools share a single established business address.

end delete
begin delete

This bill would prohibit a person from being an operator for more than one traffic violator school licensed to provide Internet-based or home study-based instruction, and would limit the authority described above to a person who operates more than one traffic violator school offering only classroom-based instruction.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1begin insert

begin insertSECTION 1.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 11205 of the end insertbegin insertVehicle Codeend insertbegin insert, as added by
2Chapter 599 of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read:end insert

3

11205.  

(a) The department shall provide a list of licensed
4traffic violator schoolsbegin insert that offer classroom-based instructionend insert on
5its Internet Web site. For each licensed school, the list shallbegin delete indicate
6the modalities of instruction offered andend delete
specify the cities where
7classroom instruction is offered. The sequential listing of licensed
8schools shall be randomized daily.

9(b) When a court or traffic assistance program (TAP) provides
10a hard copy list of licensed traffic violator schools to a traffic
11violator, the court or TAP shall provide only a current date-stamped
12list downloaded from the department’s Internet Web site.begin insert The hard
P3    1copy list shall include only licensed traffic violator schools offering
2classroom-based instruction.end insert
The hard copy list shall be as current
3as practicable, but in no event shall a list be distributed with a date
4stamp that is more than 60 days old.

5(c) The department shall, by April 1, 2012, develop a Web-based
6database that will enable the department, the courts, and traffic
7violator schools to monitor, report, and track participation and
8course completion. Traffic violator schools shall update course
9information within three business days of class completion and
10provide to the courts class completion information on a daily basis.

begin delete

11(d) This section shall become operative on September 1, 2011.

end delete
12begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 11205 of the end insertbegin insertVehicle Codeend insertbegin insert, as amended by
13Section 193 of Chapter 76 of the Statutes of 2013, is repealed.end insert

begin delete
14

11205.  

(a) The department shall publish semiannually, or more
15often as necessary to serve the purposes of this act, a list of all
16traffic violator schools which are licensed pursuant to this section.
17The list shall identify classroom facilities within a judicial district
18that are at a different location from a licensed school’s principal
19facility. The department shall transmit the list to each municipal
20court and to each superior court in a county in which there is no
21municipal court, with a sufficient number of copies to allow the
22courts to provide one copy to each person referred to a licensed
23traffic violator school. The department shall, at least semiannually,
24revise the list to ensure that each court has a current list of all
25licensed traffic violator schools.

26(b) Each licensed traffic violator school owner shall be permitted
27one school name per judicial district.

28(c) The referral list shall be organized alphabetically, in sections
29for each county, and contain subsections for each judicial district
30within the county. The order of the names within each judicial
31district shall be random pursuant to a drawing or lottery conducted
32by the department.

33(d) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (d) of Section
3442005, the court shall use either the current referral list of traffic
35violator schools published by the department when it orders a
36person to complete a traffic violator school pursuant to subdivision
37(a) or (b) of Section 42005 or, when a court utilizing a nonprofit
38agency for traffic violator school administration and monitoring
39services in which all traffic violator schools licensed by the
40department are allowed the opportunity to participate, a statewide
P4    1referral list may be published by the nonprofit agency and
2distributed by the court. The agency shall monitor each classroom
3location situated within the judicial districts in which that agency
4provides services to the courts and is represented on its referral
5list. The monitoring shall occur at least once every 90 days with
6reports forwarded to the department and the respective courts on
7a monthly basis.

8(e) The court may charge a traffic violator a fee to defray the
9costs incurred by the agency for the monitoring reports and services
10provided to the court. The court may delegate collection of the fee
11to the agency. Fees shall be approved and regulated by the court.
12Until December 31, 1996, the fee shall not exceed the actual cost
13incurred by the agency or five dollars ($5), whichever is less.

end delete
begin delete
14

SECTION 1.  

Section 11202 of the Vehicle Code is amended
15to read:

16

11202.  

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a traffic
17violator school owner shall meet all of the following criteria before
18a license may be issued for the traffic violator school:

19(1) Maintain an established place of business in this state that
20is open to the public. An office or place of business of a traffic
21violator school, including any traffic violator school branch or
22classroom location, shall not be situated within 500 feet of any
23court of law.

24(2) Conform to standards established by regulation of the
25department. In adopting the standards, the department shall
26consider those practices and instructional programs that may
27reasonably foster the knowledge, skills, and judgment necessary
28for compliance with traffic laws. The department shall establish
29standards for each instructional modality, which may include
30requirements specific to each modality. The standards may include,
31but are not limited to, classroom facilities, school personnel,
32equipment, curriculum, procedures for the testing and evaluation
33of students, recordkeeping, and business practices.

34(3) Procure and file with the department a bond of fifteen
35thousand dollars ($15,000) for home study schools and two
36thousand dollars ($2,000) for classroom-based schools executed
37by an admitted surety and conditioned upon the applicant not
38practicing fraud or making a fraudulent representation that will
39cause a monetary loss to a person taking instruction from the
40applicant or to the state or any local authority.

P5    1(4) Have the proper equipment necessary for giving instruction
2to traffic violators.

3(5) Have a lesson plan approved by the department, except as
4provided for in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), and provide not
5less than the minimum instructional time specified in the approved
6plan. The approved plan shall include a postlesson knowledge test.
7The lesson plan for each instructional modality shall require
8separate approval by the department.

9(6) (A) Execute and file with the department an instrument
10designating the director as agent of the applicant for service of
11process, as provided in this paragraph, in any action commenced
12against the applicant arising out of a claim for damages suffered
13by a person by the applicant’s violation of a provision of this code
14committed in relation to the specifications of the applicant’s traffic
15violator school or a condition of the bond required by paragraph
16(3).

17(B) The applicant shall stipulate in the instrument that a process
18directed to the applicant, when personal service cannot be made
19in this state after due diligence, may be served instead upon the
20director or, in the director’s absence from the department’s
21principal offices, upon an employee in charge of the office of the
22director, and this substituted service is of the same effect as
23personal service on the applicant. The instrument shall further
24stipulate that the agency created by the designation shall continue
25during the period covered by the license issued pursuant to this
26section and so long thereafter as the applicant may be made to
27answer in damages for a violation of this code for which the surety
28may be made liable or a condition of the bond.

29(C) The instrument designating the director as agent for service
30of process shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a notary
31 public.

32(D) If the director or an employee of the department, in lieu of
33the director, is served with a summons and complaint on behalf
34of the licensee, one copy of the summons and complaint shall be
35left with the director or in the director’s office in Sacramento or
36mailed to the office of the director in Sacramento. A fee of five
37dollars ($5) shall also be paid to the director or employee at the
38time of service of the copy of the summons and complaint, or shall
39be included with a summons and complaint served by mail.

P6    1(E) The service on the director or department employee pursuant
2to this paragraph is sufficient service on the licensee if a notice of
3the service and a copy of the summons and complaint are, on the
4same day as the service or mailing of the summons and complaint,
5sent by registered mail by the plaintiff or his or her attorney to the
6licensee. A copy of the summons and complaint shall also be
7mailed by the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney to the surety on the
8licensee’s bond at the address of the surety given in the bond,
9postpaid and registered with request for return receipt.

10(F) The director shall keep a record of all processes served
11pursuant to this paragraph showing the day and hour of service,
12and shall retain the documents served in the department’s files.

13(G) If the licensee is served with process by service upon the
14director or a department employee in lieu of the director, the
15licensee has 30 days after that service within which to answer any
16complaint or other pleading filed in the cause. For purposes of
17venue, if the licensee is served with process by service upon the
18director or a department employee in lieu of the director, the service
19is considered to have been made upon the licensee in the county
20in which the licensee has or last had his or her established place
21of business.

22(7) (A) Meet the requirements of Section 11202.5, relating to
23traffic violator school operators, if the owner is also the operator
24of the traffic violator school. If the owner is not the operator of
25the traffic violator school, the owner shall designate an employee
26as operator who shall meet the requirements of Section 11202.5.

27(B) A person may be an operator for more than one traffic
28violator school offering only classroom-based instruction if (i) the
29schools have a common owner or owners and (ii) the schools share
30a single established business address. A person shall not be an
31operator for more than one traffic violator school licensed to
32provide Internet-based or home study-based instruction.

33(C) A traffic violator school with multiple branch locations may
34designate a separate operator for each location, but shall designate
35one of the operators as the primary contact for the department.

36(8) Have an instructor who meets the requirements of Section
3711206. An owner who is designated as the operator for the school
38is authorized to act as an instructor without meeting the
39requirements of Section 11206. The owner license may also include
40authorization to act as an instructor if the owner is not designated
P7    1as the operator but meets the requirements of Section 11206. The
2owner license shall specify if the owner is authorized to offer
3instruction. If the owner is not approved to act as an instructor, the
4school must employ an instructor licensed pursuant to Section
511206.

6(9) Provide the department with a written assurance that the
7school will comply with the applicable provisions of Subchapter
8II or III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
9Sec. 12101 et seq.), and any other federal and state laws prohibiting
10discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Compliance
11may include providing sign language interpreters or other
12accommodations for students with disabilities.

13(b) The qualifying requirements specified in subdivision (a)
14shall be met within one year from the date of application for a
15license, or a new application and fee are required.

16(c) A court-approved program that was in operation prior to
17July 1, 2011, shall file an application for licensure as a traffic
18violator school by March 1, 2012. A court shall not approve a
19traffic violator school program after July 1, 2011.

20(1) A court-approved program may continue to operate as
21approved by a court until the department makes a licensing
22decision.

23(2) The department shall approve or deny all completed
24applications filed pursuant to this subdivision no later than
25December 31, 2012.

26(3) A court-approved program shall be exempt from paragraph
27(5) of subdivision (a). The licensed program may continue to use
28the curriculum approved by the court until the department
29 establishes curriculum standards in regulation. The court-approved
30program must comply with the new curriculum standards by the
31effective date established in regulation.

32(d) Paragraphs (3) and (6) of subdivision (a) do not apply to
33public schools or other public agencies, which shall also not be
34required to post a cash deposit pursuant to Section 11203.

35(e) Paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) does not apply to public
36schools or other public educational institutions.

37(f) A notice approved by the department shall be posted in every
38traffic violator school, branch, and classroom location, and
39prominently displayed on a home study or Internet program, stating
40that any person involved in the offering of, or soliciting for, a
P8    1completion certificate for attendance at a traffic violator school
2program in which the person does not attend or does not complete
3the minimum amount of instruction time may be guilty of violating
4Section 134 of the Penal Code.

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