BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 2450 (Logue/J.Perez) - Specialized license plate: kidney
disease awareness.
Amended: April 21, 2014 Policy Vote: T&H 10-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2450 would require the Department of Public
Health (DPH) to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
to sponsor a kidney disease awareness specialized license plate
program.
Fiscal Impact:
Estimated DPH costs of $25,000 in 2014-15 for plate design,
and approximately $50,000 in 2015-16 for 1/2 PY of staff
time to collect the initial 7,500 applications and fees for
the establishment of the plate program (General Fund).
These costs could continue into 2016-17 if the requisite
applications and fees are not collected within the first
year and DPH applies to DMV for a 12-month extension.
Assuming 7,500 pre-paid applications are collected by DPH,
DMV would incur initial administrative costs of $135,000 to
process the applications, and an additional $440,000 in
programming and other implementation costs, likely in
2016-17 or 2017-18, partially offset by pre-paid application
fees of $375,000, leaving a net cost of approximately
$200,000 (Motor Vehicle Account). These net costs would be
reimbursed in the following fiscal year by registration
renewal fees from holders of the kidney disease awareness
plates. All ongoing costs thereafter would be fully offset
by fees from renewals and issuance of new plates.
Upon full implementation of the proposed plate program,
there would be ongoing revenues of approximately $300,000
annually for use by DPH for kidney disease awareness
purposes (based on 7,500 plate renewals).
AB 2450 (Logue/J.Perez)
Page 1
Background: Existing law, AB 84 (Leslie), Chap 454/2006,
authorizes any state agency to sponsor a special interest
license plate, and apply to DMV to establish a new license plate
program after collecting at least 7,500 applications and
accompanying fees and submitting them to DMV. The applications
must be collected within one year, with an option to extend that
timeframe by an additional year under specified conditions. The
new specialized license plate must have a design or contain a
message that publicizes or promotes a state agency, or the
official policy, mission, or work of the agency.
In addition to the regular fees for an original or renewal
registration, the following fees would be paid for the issuance,
renewal, or transfer of the specialized license plate: $50 for
original issuance; $40 for renewal; $15 for transfer to another
vehicle; and $35 for substitute replacement plates. Once a
specialized license plate program has been implemented, all
additional revenues noted above, after subtracting DMV
administrative costs, would be deposited into the Specialized
License Plate Fund, and made available to the sponsoring agency
upon appropriation by the Legislature for projects and programs
that promote the agency's official policy, mission, or work. A
sponsoring agency may not spend more than 25 percent of its
license plate fee revenues for administrative, marketing, and
promotional costs associated with the plate.
Proposed Law: AB 2450 would require DPH to apply to DMV to
sponsor a kidney disease awareness license plate program
pursuant to the procedures and requirements of the specialized
license plate program in existing law.
Related Legislation:
AB 1096 (Nestande), pending in this Committee, would require the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to apply to DMV to sponsor a
Salton Sea specialized license plate program to fund Salton Sea
restoration.
AB 2321 (Gomez), pending in this Committee, would require the
Office of Emergency Services to apply to DMV to sponsor a
domestic violence and sexual assault awareness specialized
license plate program to fund the Family Violence Prevention
Program.
Staff Comments: As noted above, any state agency may sponsor a
AB 2450 (Logue/J.Perez)
Page 2
specialized license plate program and apply to DMV to issue the
plates upon collection of 7,500 pre-paid applications without
legislative action. Rather than allow DPH to sponsor a plate
for kidney disease awareness at its own discretion, this bill
would require the department to apply to DMV to sponsor a kidney
disease awareness plate program, pursuant to the requirements in
existing law.
As a sponsoring entity, existing law requires DPH to design a
plate, apply to DMV to sponsor a plate program, and collect
7,500 pre-paid applications within 12 months. If the requisite
number of applications has not been reached within a year, DPH
has the option of either returning all fees and deposits to
applicants, or notifying DMV that it intends to continue
collection efforts to obtain the minimum 7,500 applications
within the subsequent 12 months. If DPH elects to continue
collection efforts, it must contact applicants who submitted
applications and fees to determine whether they would prefer to
continue the application or have their deposits and fees
refunded.
Staff estimates that DPH would incur initial costs of
approximately $25,000 in 2014-15 to design the kidney disease
awareness license plate and apply to DMV to sponsor the plate,
and additional costs of approximately $50,000 in 2015-16 to
collect applications and fees. If 7,500 applications have not
been received within 12 months of applying to DMV, DPH may incur
similar costs in 2016-17, if it chooses to apply for an
extension. Staff notes that there is no requirement that DPH
incur costs beyond the 12 month period if less than 7,500
applications have been collected.
All DMV costs are contingent upon receipt of 7,500 pre-paid
applications, as specified above. If the requisite number of
applications are not received within the specified timeframes,
the kidney disease awareness plate program would not be
implemented and there would be no further costs or revenues
derived from the bill.