BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2393
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2393 (Levine)
As Amended July 3, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |42-31|(May 27, 2014) |SENATE: |21-13|(August 7, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY : Authorizes an increase in the vehicle registration fee
used to fund fingerprint identification programs. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Authorizes, for counties that have imposed a vehicle
registration fee for fingerprint identification programs, the
fee to be increased from $1 to $2 (and from $2 to $4 for
commercial vehicles).
2)For counties that have not imposed a $1 vehicle registration
fee for fingerprint identification programs, authorizes
imposition of a $2 fee (and a $4 fee for commercial vehicles).
The Senate amendments are technical, clarifying that commercial
vehicle surcharges would increase to $4 when a county raises the
vehicle surcharge from $1 to $2 and that the surcharge would be
$2 for counties that are imposing the surcharge for the first
time.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee,:
1)One-time Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) programming costs
of approximately $40,000 for each county that elects to
increase the fee. If a county has never imposed the fee,
DMV's programming costs would be $100,000. All DMV costs are
recoverable from fee revenues.
2)Unknown local fee revenues, potentially in the millions
annually. Actual local revenue gains would depend upon the
number of counties exercising the authority to impose the
higher fee, and the number of registered vehicles subject to
AB 2393
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the fee. Currently 45 counties impose the fee, which
generated $29.8 million in net local revenues in 2012-13.
COMMENTS : The Department of Justice (DOJ) started the
fingerprint identification program, known as Cal-ID, in the late
1980s to provide a way to verify the identity of persons placed
under arrest and to assist law enforcement agencies in other
ways, such as identifying human remains and identifying possible
criminal suspects, using fingerprint evidence gathered at crime
scenes.
Limited funding for the technology and equipment hampered
implementation of Cal-ID. As a result, the Legislature passed
SB 720 (Lockyer), Chapter 587, Statutes of 1997, authorizing
counties to impose a $1 surcharge on vehicle registrations in
the county and to use the money for the Cal-ID program. SB 720
limited the duration of the program to five years. Subsequent
legislation extended authorization for the program twice: AB
879 (Keeley), Chapter 986, Statutes of 2002, extended the
program until 2006 and added reporting requirements, and AB 857
(Bass), Chapter 470, Statutes of 2005, extended the program
until January 2012. Finally, AB 674 (Bonilla), Chapter 205,
Statutes of 2011, repealed the sunset date entirely.
According to the sponsors, the Cal-ID program has been a
statewide success. They contend it has saved DOJ countless
hours of manually scanning inked fingerprint cards. Further,
local law enforcement officials assert that since the original
legislation, advances in biometric science and technology have
developed to the point that law enforcement can now send and
receive from the field identification needed to authenticate
individuals using not only fingerprints but also retinal scans,
facial scans, palm-prints, and thumbprints. These advancements
offer significant benefits to law enforcement, such as the
ability to:
1)Authenticate individuals remotely and avoid unnecessary
transfers to a booking facility;
2)Rapidly identify dangerous individuals;
3)Confirm instances of mistaken identities; and,
4)View a driver's license photograph from the field.
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Although the program has been extended indefinitely, the author
points out that the $1 vehicle registration fee has not changed
since the inception of the program 17 years ago. This bill is
intended to restore some of the lost purchasing power of the
original $1 fee as well as to allow law enforcement to take
advantage of advances in technology.
Writing in opposition to this bill, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association argues 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.
To this point, this bill is a majority vote measure in the
Legislature because it does not directly result in a taxpayer
paying a higher tax. Instead, this bill delegates to county
boards of supervisors the authority to impose a vehicle
registrations fee. Ultimately, county counsels will have to
determine the appropriate vote threshold at the county level,
where a two-thirds vote of the electorate may be required.
Previous legislation: SB 720, originally authorized the
imposition of a $1 fee for the automated fingerprinting systems,
until January 2003.
AB 879, extended the program until 2006 (and added reporting
requirements).
AB 857, extended the program until January 2012.
AB 674, extended the program indefinitely.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0004259