BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2399
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: J. pÉrez
VERSION: 4/24/14
Analysis by: Erin Riches FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 17, 2014
SUBJECT:
Driver's license information: organ and tissue donor registry
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes an organ procurement organization (OPO) to
swipe a driver's license or identification card in an electronic
device to transmit information to the Donate Life California
Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes California's federally designated OPOs
to establish a nonprofit organization as the California Organ
and Tissue Donor Registrar. The OPOs established Donate Life
California as the registrar, and Donate Life California
established and maintains the California Organ and Tissue Donor
Registry.
Existing law requires an individual to indicate whether or not
he or she will be an organ donor as part of completing a
driver's license or identification card application or renewal
form through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Existing
law requires DMV to print the word "DONOR" or appropriate
designation on the face of the driver's license or
identification card of each individual who signs up as a donor;
DMV meets this requirement by printing the word "DONOR" inside a
pink dot embedded on the face of the driver's license or
identification card.
Existing law requires DMV to transmit electronically the
following information to Donate Life California, on a weekly
basis:
The applicant's true full name
The applicant's residence or mailing address
The applicant's year of birth
The applicant's California driver's license or identification
AB 2399 (J. PÉREZ) Page 2
card number
Existing law requires DMV to submit an annual report to Donate
Life California and to the Legislature, as well as quarterly
updates, detailing voluntary contributions it has collected and
a non-identifiable summary of applicants, as follows:
Date of application
Method of application (e.g., field office, online, or mail)
ZIP code
Gender
Year of birth
Existing law requires Donate Life California to submit an annual
report to the state Public Health Officer and the Legislature
that includes:
The number of donors on the registry
The changes in the number of donors on the registry
The general characteristics of donors as determined by the
information provided to Donate Life California by DMV
Each driver's license and identification card includes a
magnetic strip on the back that contains the same information
found on the front of the license or card. Existing law
authorizes a business to swipe a driver's license or
identification card in any electronic device for the following
purposes:
To verify the individual's age or the authenticity of the
driver's license or identification card
To comply with a legal requirement to record, retain, or
transmit that information
To collect or disclose personal information required for
reporting, investigating, or preventing fraud, abuse, or
material misrepresentation
Existing law defines "business" as a proprietorship,
partnership, corporation, or any other form of commercial
enterprise. Existing law provides that a business swiping a
driver's license or identification card for any other purpose is
subject to a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county
jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
This bill :
AB 2399 (J. PÉREZ) Page 3
Authorizes an OPO to swipe a driver's license or
identification card in any electronic device to transmit
information to the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue
Donor Registry for purposes of allowing an individual to
identify himself or herself as a registered organ donor.
Requires any information transmitted in this manner to comply
with the DMV Information Security Agreement.
Requires Donate Life California to include aggregated data of
donors, rather than general characteristics of donors, in its
annual report to the State Public Health Officer and the
Legislature.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author states that California is 46th in the
nation in organ donor registration. As of January 2014, more
than 120,000 individuals - about 18 percent of them
Californians - were on the National Organ Transplant Waiting
List. One organ donor can save up to eight lives, and one
tissue donor can improve the lives of up to 50 others.
The author states that OPOs often participate in community
events to encourage individuals to become organ donors. The
use of paper forms at these events, however, often slows down
donor registration due to the length of time to fill out the
form by hand, illegible handwriting, and similar problems.
This bill would enable a Donate Life California representative
to sign up an individual through a device attached to a
smartphone. The individual would complete an electronic
signup sheet that includes the same information collected by
DMV when it signs up a donor. The information would be
encrypted on the device, and deleted from the device once it
is submitted to the Donate Life California database. This
bill would enable Donate Life California to register donors
more quickly and efficiently.
2.Background . SB 108 (Speier), Chapter 740, Statutes of 2001,
authorized the establishment of an Organ and Tissue Donor
Registry in the state Health and Human Services Agency, but
the agency never received funding for the registry. SB 112
(Speier), Chapter 405, Statutes of 2003, transferred
responsibility for establishing the registry to a private,
nonprofit organization administered by the four federally
designated OPOs: California Transplant Donor Network (Northern
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California), Golden State Donor Services (North Central
California), Lifesharing: A Donate Life Organization (Imperial
and San Diego), and OneLegacy (Southern California). SB 112
built on a provision of current law at that time requiring DMV
to provide donor registration forms to applicants for driver's
licenses or identification cards.
Donate Life California found the system established by SB 112
to be ineffective and sponsored SB 689 (Speier), Chapter 665,
Statutes of 2005, requiring DMV to collect organ and tissue
donor designation information on its driver's license and
identification card applications. In an attempt to further
increase organ donor signups, SB 1395 (Alquist), Chapter 217,
Statutes of 2010, requires an individual to indicate whether
or not he or she will be an organ donor in order to apply for
or renew a driver's license or identification card.
3.Does electronic signup provide the same protections as DMV
signup ? When an individual signs up to be an organ donor
through the DMV, he or she must affirm this desire by checking
yes or no on the application or renewal form (which he or she
must also sign). The individual subsequently receives a
follow-up email confirmation that he or she has registered as
an organ donor. The sponsor indicates that an individual
registering electronically through a Donate Life California
representative would also have to click "yes" before
completing the transaction and would receive a follow-up email
confirmation.
In addition, this bill requires any information transmitted
pursuant to this bill to comply with the DMV Information
Security Agreement (DMV ISA). The DMV uses information
security standards and guidelines derived from the National
Institutes of Standards and Technology to reinforce DMV
information security requirements for electronic access or
connection.
4.Data in annual report . Existing law requires DMV to submit an
annual report to Donate Life California and to the
Legislature, as specified. Existing law also requires Donate
Life California to submit an annual report to the state Public
Health Officer and the Legislature that includes, among other
items, the general characteristics of donors as determined by
the information provided to Donate Life California by DMV.
This bill was amended in the Assembly Judiciary Committee to
change this requirement from general characteristics of
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donors, to aggregated data of donors. The author is working
with DMV to clarify this requirement and plans to amend the
bill further in the next committee.
5.Opposition arguments . The California Right to Life Committee
(CRLC) expresses numerous concerns, most of which relate to
existing law provisions authorizing organ donor signup through
the driver's license application. CRLC raises questions as to
whether OPO representatives educate potential donors as to
whether brain death is actually true death and whether OPO
representatives explain that organs may be removed from an
individual that is not actually clinically dead. CRLC also
questions whether, if an individual does not indicate "no" on
the driver's license application, the presumption will be that
the person actually meant to indicate "yes."
6.Double-referral . The Rules Committee has referred this bill
to both this committee and the Judiciary Committee.
Therefore, if this bill passes this committee, it will be
referred to the Judiciary Committee.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 76-0
Appr: 17-0
Jud: 10-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 11,
2014.)
SUPPORT: American Academy of Pediatrics
California Transplant Donor Network
Donate Life California (sponsor)
Sierra Donor Services
OPPOSED: California Right to Life Committee, Inc.