BILL NUMBER: AB 1986 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Linder
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to amend and repeal Section 11202
11205 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1986, as amended, Linder. Vehicles: traffic violator school
program.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 11205 of the Vehicle
Code , as added by Chapter 599 of the Statutes of 2010,
is amended to read:
11205. (a) The department shall provide a list of licensed
traffic violator schools that offer classroom-based instruction
on its Internet Web site. For each licensed school, the list
shall indicate the modalities of instruction offered and
specify the cities where classroom instruction is offered.
The sequential listing of licensed schools shall be randomized daily.
(b) When a court or traffic assistance program (TAP) provides a
hard copy list of licensed traffic violator schools to a traffic
violator, the court or TAP shall provide only a current date-stamped
list downloaded from the department's Internet Web site. The
hard copy list shall include only licensed traffic violator schools
offering classroom-based instruction. The hard copy list shall
be as current as practicable, but in no event shall a list be
distributed with a date stamp that is more than 60 days old.
(c) The department shall, by April 1, 2012, develop a Web-based
database that will enable the department, the courts, and traffic
violator schools to monitor, report, and track participation and
course completion. Traffic violator schools shall update course
information within three business days of class completion and
provide to the courts class completion information on a daily basis.
(d) This section shall become operative on September 1, 2011.
SEC. 2. Section 11205 of the Vehicle
Code , as amended by Section 193 of Chapter 76 of the
Statutes of 2013, is repealed.
11205. (a) The department shall publish semiannually, or more
often as necessary to serve the purposes of this act, a list of all
traffic violator schools which are licensed pursuant to this section.
The list shall identify classroom facilities within a judicial
district that are at a different location from a licensed school's
principal facility. The department shall transmit the list to each
municipal court and to each superior court in a county in which there
is no municipal court, with a sufficient number of copies to allow
the courts to provide one copy to each person referred to a licensed
traffic violator school. The department shall, at least semiannually,
revise the list to ensure that each court has a current list of all
licensed traffic violator schools.
(b) Each licensed traffic violator school owner shall be permitted
one school name per judicial district.
(c) The referral list shall be organized alphabetically, in
sections for each county, and contain subsections for each judicial
district within the county. The order of the names within each
judicial district shall be random pursuant to a drawing or lottery
conducted by the department.
(d) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (d) of Section
42005, the court shall use either the current referral list of
traffic violator schools published by the department when it orders a
person to complete a traffic violator school pursuant to subdivision
(a) or (b) of Section 42005 or, when a court utilizing a nonprofit
agency for traffic violator school administration and monitoring
services in which all traffic violator schools licensed by the
department are allowed the opportunity to participate, a statewide
referral list may be published by the nonprofit agency and
distributed by the court. The agency shall monitor each classroom
location situated within the judicial districts in which that agency
provides services to the courts and is represented on its referral
list. The monitoring shall occur at least once every 90 days with
reports forwarded to the department and the respective courts on a
monthly basis.
(e) The court may charge a traffic violator a fee to defray the
costs incurred by the agency for the monitoring reports and services
provided to the court. The court may delegate collection of the fee
to the agency. Fees shall be approved and regulated by the court.
Until December 31, 1996, the fee shall not exceed the actual cost
incurred by the agency or five dollars ($5), whichever is less.
SECTION 1. Section 11202 of the Vehicle Code is
amended to read:
11202. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a traffic
violator school owner shall meet all of the following criteria before
a license may be issued for the traffic violator school:
(1) Maintain an established place of business in this state that
is open to the public. An office or place of business of a traffic
violator school, including any traffic violator school branch or
classroom location, shall not be situated within 500 feet of any
court of law.
(2) Conform to standards established by regulation of the
department. In adopting the standards, the department shall consider
those practices and instructional programs that may reasonably foster
the knowledge, skills, and judgment necessary for compliance with
traffic laws. The department shall establish standards for each
instructional modality, which may include requirements specific to
each modality. The standards may include, but are not limited to,
classroom facilities, school personnel, equipment, curriculum,
procedures for the testing and evaluation of students, recordkeeping,
and business practices.
(3) Procure and file with the department a bond of fifteen
thousand dollars ($15,000) for home study schools and two thousand
dollars ($2,000) for classroom-based schools executed by an admitted
surety and conditioned upon the applicant not practicing fraud or
making a fraudulent representation that will cause a monetary loss to
a person taking instruction from the applicant or to the state or
any local authority.
(4) Have the proper equipment necessary for giving instruction to
traffic violators.
(5) Have a lesson plan approved by the department, except as
provided for in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), and provide not
less than the minimum instructional time specified in the approved
plan. The approved plan shall include a postlesson knowledge test.
The lesson plan for each instructional modality shall require
separate approval by the department.
(6) (A) Execute and file with the department an instrument
designating the director as agent of the applicant for service of
process, as provided in this paragraph, in any action commenced
against the applicant arising out of a claim for damages suffered by
a person by the applicant's violation of a provision of this code
committed in relation to the specifications of the applicant's
traffic violator school or a condition of the bond required by
paragraph (3).
(B) The applicant shall stipulate in the instrument that a process
directed to the applicant, when personal service cannot be made in
this state after due diligence, may be served instead upon the
director or, in the director's absence from the department's
principal offices, upon an employee in charge of the office of the
director, and this substituted service is of the same effect as
personal service on the applicant. The instrument shall further
stipulate that the agency created by the designation shall continue
during the period covered by the license issued pursuant to this
section and so long thereafter as the applicant may be made to answer
in damages for a violation of this code for which the surety may be
made liable or a condition of the bond.
(C) The instrument designating the director as agent for service
of process shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a notary
public.
(D) If the director or an employee of the department, in lieu of
the director, is served with a summons and complaint on behalf of the
licensee, one copy of the summons and complaint shall be left with
the director or in the director's office in Sacramento or mailed to
the office of the director in Sacramento. A fee of five dollars ($5)
shall also be paid to the director or employee at the time of service
of the copy of the summons and complaint, or shall be included with
a summons and complaint served by mail.
(E) The service on the director or department employee pursuant to
this paragraph is sufficient service on the licensee if a notice of
the service and a copy of the summons and complaint are, on the same
day as the service or mailing of the summons and complaint, sent by
registered mail by the plaintiff or his or her attorney to the
licensee. A copy of the summons and complaint shall also be mailed by
the plaintiff or plaintiff's attorney to the surety on the licensee'
s bond at the address of the surety given in the bond, postpaid and
registered with request for return receipt.
(F) The director shall keep a record of all processes served
pursuant to this paragraph showing the day and hour of service, and
shall retain the documents served in the department's files.
(G) If the licensee is served with process by service upon the
director or a department employee in lieu of the director, the
licensee has 30 days after that service within which to answer any
complaint or other pleading filed in the cause. For purposes of
venue, if the licensee is served with process by service upon the
director or a department employee in lieu of the director, the
service is considered to have been made upon the licensee in the
county in which the licensee has or last had his or her established
place of business.
(7) (A) Meet the requirements of Section 11202.5, relating to
traffic violator school operators, if the owner is also the operator
of the traffic violator school. If the owner is not the operator of
the traffic violator school, the owner shall designate an employee as
operator who shall meet the requirements of Section 11202.5.
(B) A person may be an operator for more than one traffic violator
school offering only classroom-based instruction if (i) the schools
have a common owner or owners and (ii) the schools share a single
established business address. A person shall not be an operator for
more than one traffic violator school licensed to provide
Internet-based or home study-based instruction.
(C) A traffic violator school with multiple branch locations may
designate a separate operator for each location, but shall designate
one of the operators as the primary contact for the department.
(8) Have an instructor who meets the requirements of Section
11206. An owner who is designated as the operator for the school is
authorized to act as an instructor without meeting the requirements
of Section 11206. The owner license may also include authorization to
act as an instructor if the owner is not designated as the operator
but meets the requirements of Section 11206. The owner license shall
specify if the owner is authorized to offer instruction. If the owner
is not approved to act as an instructor, the school must employ an
instructor licensed pursuant to Section 11206.
(9) Provide the department with a written assurance that the
school will comply with the applicable provisions of Subchapter II or
III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec.
12101 et seq.), and any other federal and state laws prohibiting
discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Compliance may
include providing sign language interpreters or other accommodations
for students with disabilities.
(b) The qualifying requirements specified in subdivision (a) shall
be met within one year from the date of application for a license,
or a new application and fee are required.
(c) A court-approved program that was in operation prior to July
1, 2011, shall file an application for licensure as a traffic
violator school by March 1, 2012. A court shall not approve a traffic
violator school program after July 1, 2011.
(1) A court-approved program may continue to operate as approved
by a court until the department makes a licensing decision.
(2) The department shall approve or deny all completed
applications filed pursuant to this subdivision no later than
December 31, 2012.
(3) A court-approved program shall be exempt from paragraph (5) of
subdivision (a). The licensed program may continue to use the
curriculum approved by the court until the department establishes
curriculum standards in regulation. The court-approved program must
comply with the new curriculum standards by the effective date
established in regulation.
(d) Paragraphs (3) and (6) of subdivision (a) do not apply to
public schools or other public agencies, which shall also not be
required to post a cash deposit pursuant to Section 11203.
(e) Paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) does not apply to public
schools or other public educational institutions.
(f) A notice approved by the department shall be posted in every
traffic violator school, branch, and classroom location, and
prominently displayed on a home study or Internet program, stating
that any person involved in the offering of, or soliciting for, a
completion certificate for attendance at a traffic violator school
program in which the person does not attend or does not complete the
minimum amount of instruction time may be guilty of violating Section
134 of the Penal Code.