BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1323
Author: Lieu (D)
Amended: 8/22/14
Vote: 27 - Urgency
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-0, 8/28/14 (Pursuant to
Senate Rule 29.10)
AYES: De León, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/27/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Specialized license plates: Pet Lovers License
Plate Program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires that any revenue in the
Specialized License Plate Fund (SLP Fund) generated from a
specialized license plate issued under the Pet Lovers License
Plate Program is to be appropriated to the Veterinary Medical
Board (VMB) as of the operative date of this bill.
Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version dealing with
property taxation, and instead add the current language.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes a specialized license
plate program administered by the Department of Motor Vehicles
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SB 1323
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(DMV). DMV currently administers 12 specialized license plate
programs, including the Pet Lover's specialized license plate
program. AB 610 (Solorio, Chapter 9, Statutes of 2012) provided
VMB an additional 12-month period to meet the 7,500 application
threshold as required by existing law. VMB obtained the
necessary applications over the additional 12 months and began
issuing Pet Lover's specialized license plates in September of
2013. As of May 31, 2014, DMV has issued 8,070 Pet Lover's
specialized license plates and generated $94,844.
This bill requires that any revenue in the SLP Fund generated
from a specialized license plate issued under the Pet Lover's
License Plate Program is to be appropriated to VMB as of the
operative date of this bill.
Comments
Prior to 2007, any new specialized license plate required
specific legislative authorization. That practice was held to
be unconstitutional by the federal courts in that the
Legislature approved some of the plates and rejected others,
while using no standardized or objective criteria for those
decisions. In response to the court decision, AB 84 (Leslie,
Chapter 454, Statutes of 2006) established the current
specialized license plate program to provide a forum for
government speech that promotes California's state policies. AB
84 excludes private organizations from seeking specialized
license plates as a forum for private speech, and thus addresses
the court's objection.
Specialized license plates now created and the revenue they
generate must publicize or promote a state agency, or the
official policy, mission, or work of a state agency. A state
agency must first submit an initial application to DMV
requesting sponsorship of a specialized license plate. The
process then provides the sponsoring state agency 12 months to
obtain the required 7,500 paid applications and must be received
by the sponsoring state agency prior to notifying DMV. The
7,500 application threshold was previously put into statute for
specialized license plates and was arrived at in an attempt to
assure that DMV's startup costs would be fully covered by the
portion of the registration fee surcharge that is directed to
DMV and to avoid a proliferation of different types of plates,
which can be troublesome from a law enforcement perspective.
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Furthermore, fees collected from the specialized license plate
programs are first used to cover DMV program administrative
costs with the remaining additional funds being deposited into
the SLP Fund and subject to appropriation by the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, one-time
appropriation of approximately $145,000 from the Pet Lover's
Account in the SLP Fund to the VMB.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/27/14)
State Humane Association of California
Veterinary Medical Board
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/27/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A.
Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harkey, Vacancy
AB/JA:k 8/29/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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