BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2393
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: levine
VERSION: 2/21/14
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 17, 2014
SUBJECT:
Vehicle registration surcharge: fingerprint identification
systems
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes counties to impose either a $1 or $2
vehicle registration surcharge to fund fingerprint
identification systems.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law establishes a basic vehicle registration fee of
$46, plus a $24 surcharge for additional personnel for the
California Highway Patrol (CHP), for the new or renewal
registration of most vehicles. Existing law also authorizes
local agencies to impose separate vehicle registration fee
surcharges in their respective jurisdictions for a variety of
special programs, including $1 for fingerprint identification
programs. County boards of supervisors adopt resolutions
imposing the surcharge and declaring the purpose of and need for
the surcharge. In counties that have imposed the surcharge,
commercial vehicles pay an additional $2 and other vehicles pay
an additional $1 with their vehicle registrations for the
fingerprint program.
Existing law continuously appropriates the funds generated by
the $1 and $2 surcharges, which are collected by the Department
of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and disbursed by the State Controller,
to each county that has adopted the required resolution.
Counties may only spend these revenues to fund programs that
enhance the capacity of local law enforcement to provide
automated mobile and fixed-location fingerprint identification
of individuals who may be involved in driving under the
influence of alcohol or drugs, vehicular manslaughter, and other
vehicle-related crimes, as well as other crimes committed while
operating a motor vehicle.
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Every participating county must issue a fiscal year-end report
to the State Controller. The State Controller must notify DMV
if a participating county either does not file the report or
does not expend the surcharge revenue for an authorized purpose.
In either instance, DMV suspends collection of the surcharge in
that county for a year.
This bill authorizes any county that has imposed a $1 vehicle
registration surcharge for fingerprint identification systems to
increase that surcharge to $2 through a resolution its board of
supervisors adopts. In addition, a county without this
surcharge currently in place could choose to impose either a $1
or $2 surcharge through a resolution its board of supervisors
adopts. Counties that impose $2 surcharges on their regular
vehicle registrations would automatically increase the surcharge
on commercial vehicles from $2 to $4 as well. The county must
submit the resolution to DMV at least six months prior to the
date DMV will begin collecting the $2 surcharge.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . Since 1986, the State Department of
Justice has operated an automated fingerprint identification
program, known as Cal-ID. This program is designed to assist
law enforcement agencies in various ways, including verifying
the identity of persons placed under arrest, identifying human
remains, and identifying criminal suspects by the use of
fingerprints.
Local law enforcement agencies have access to the Cal-ID
system, but many agencies had, in the past, reported that the
necessary access equipment was antiquated and that they were
not financially able to take full advantage of the significant
advances in the related technology.
In light of these shortcomings, the Legislature enacted SB 720
(Lockyer), Chapter 587, Statutes of 1997, which authorized,
until January 1, 2003, participating counties to impose the $1
annual surcharge to fund local law enforcement use of
automated mobile and fixed-location fingerprint identification
equipment (live-scan). AB 879 (Keeley), Chapter 986, Statutes
of 2002 extended the sunset date to 2006 and added
requirements for participating counties to report to the State
Controller and for the Controller to report to the Legislature
on the program. In 2005, AB 857 (Bass), Chapter 470, extended
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the sunset date until January 1, 2012, and then in 2011, AB
674 (Bonilla), Chapter 205, repealed the sunset date, making
the program permanent.
Although the program is permanent, the author introduced this
bill to restore some of the lost purchasing power of the $1
surcharge, which has not changed since the inception of the
program 17 years ago. In addition, proponents note that this
increase would enable law enforcement to take advantage of
advances in fingerprinting technology.
2.Opposition . Opponents argue that the fee increase proposed in
this bill runs afoul of Constitutional provisions governing
the imposition of special taxes, namely that imposition of
such a tax requires a two-thirds vote of the electorate.
3.Vote of the people . The people passed Proposition 26 in
November 2010, and so amended the California Constitution to
require that any "change in statute which results in a
taxpayer paying a higher tax must be imposed by an act passed
by not less than two-thirds of all members elected to each of
the two houses of the Legislature." This bill does not result
in a taxpayer paying a higher tax but delegates to county
boards of supervisors the authority to impose a higher
surcharge on vehicle registrations to fund a specific
government function. Ultimately, county counsels will have to
determine a vote threshold at the county level. So while this
bill is a majority vote measure in the Legislature, the local
action to increase the registration surcharge may be a
two-thirds vote of the electorate in a county.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 42-31
Appr: 12-5
L Gov: 6-3
Trans: 9-6
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 11,
2014.)
SUPPORT: California State Sheriffs' Association (sponsor)
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
California Association of Crime
Laboratory Directors
California District Attorneys
Association
AB 2393 (LEVINE) Page 4
California State Association of
Counties
Contra Costa County
County of San Mateo Office of the Sheriff
Napa County Office of Sheriff-Coroner
Orange County Sheriff's Department
Sheriff-Coroner, Santa Cruz County
Sheriff's Office, County of Kern
OPPOSED: California Car Clubs
California Taxpayers Association
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association