BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 63
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 63
(Bonilla) - As Amended April 7, 2015
SUBJECT: School safety programs: funding
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to create a
specialized license plate program to generate funds for school
violence prevention programs. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to consult
with the Board of State and Community Corrections, the State
Department of Social Services, and the State Department of
Public Health on school violence prevention and intervention
in order to carry out one or more of the purposes of the grant
program.
2)Requires CDE to apply to DMV to create a specialized license
plate program.
3)Requires that the fees collected from the sale of the
specialized license plates to be deposited in the School
Violence Prevention Fund, established by this bill in the
State Treasury.
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4)Requires the moneys in that fund to be allocated to the CDE in
order to carry out the purposes of the School Safety Violence
Protection Act, as specified in the Education Code on January
1, 2004, or as determined by the CDE for school violence
prevention.
5)Requires the CDE to comply with all the requirements of a
state agency sponsoring a specialized license plate program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Allows any state agency to apply to DMV to sponsor a
specialized license plate program.
2)Requires DMV to issue specialized license plates for that
program if the agency complies with all statutory
requirements.
3)Prohibits DMV from establishing a specialized license plate
program for an agency until it receives 7,500 paid
applications for the agency's specialized license plates.
4)Requires the agency to collect and hold applications for the
specialized plates and once the agency has received at least
7,500 applications, it must submit the applications, along
with the necessary fees to DMV.
5)Prohibits advance payment to DMV of its estimated or actual
administrative costs associated with issuing a specialized
license plate from constituting compliance with the 7,500
application threshold requirement.
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6)Requires funds accruing to a sponsoring state agency from the
sale of specialized license plates to be expended exclusively
for projects and programs that promote that agency's official
policy, mission, or work.
7)Allows specialized license plates to feature a distinctive
design, decal, or distinctive message in a two-inch by
three-inch space to the left of the plate's numerical sequence
and a space not larger than 5/8-inch in height below the
numerical series.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
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.
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. Furthermore, the process requires that
at least 7,500 paid applications be received by the state agency
prior to notifying DMV. The 7,500-application threshold was put
into statute for specialized license plates was arrived at in an
attempt to assure that DMV's startup costs would be fully
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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.
Youth violence is a problem that has serious social, emotional,
physical, and economic consequences. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention shows the leading cause of death among
youth aged 10-to 24 is the result of homicide or suicide, yet
much of this violence is preventable through early intervention
and support for communities, families, and those who are exposed
to violence or prone to violent behavior. Bullying, which has
been linked to youth homicides and suicides, is also on the rise
in California. In fact, a recent survey administered by CDE
found that one in three middle school and high school students
in California report having been harassed or bullied at least
once in the previous year.
The author reports that in the past, the state provided funding
for grants to help raise awareness about and prevent violence
and improve school safety. The author notes that grants (School
Safety and Violence Prevention Act and School Safety
Consolidated Competitive Grant) were funded through categorical
grants, but with the enactment of the local control funding
formula, these grants are no longer in existence.
AB 63 attempts to fund these violence prevention programs by
creating a new and direct source of funding derived from the
sale of youth violence prevention specialized license plates.
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Specifically, the bill would require CDE to apply to the DMV for
sponsorship of the specialized plate and that the fees collected
from the sale of the plates be deposited into the School
Violence Prevention Fund that is also established by this bill.
The author notes that the programs that would be funded by the
sale of the specialized plates may include, but are not
necessarily limited to, bullying and cyberbullying intervention,
school community policing, safe school planning, crisis
preparedness and response, gang risk intervention, school
personnel training and other programs and services or resources
approved by CDE
SB 544 (DeSaulnier), which would have established a similar
specialized license plate (as well as directed funds towards
both the School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grants and the
School Safety and Violence Prevention Strategy Program), passed
out of this committee on a 10-3 vote but failed in the Assembly
Education Committee due to a lack of a motion and a second to
move the bill. The Assembly Education Committee members
believed the bill violated SR 28 (Senate Committee on
Transportation and Housing), adopted on April 10, 2014, which
declared a moratorium on legislation proposing to establish new
license plate types until the Legislature could assess the
impact of ongoing increase in specialized license plates.
According to the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
staff, the moratorium was directed at licensed plates that did
not meet existing statutory requirements for specialized license
plates and therefore did not apply to SB 544.
Double-referral: This bill passed out the Assembly Education
Committee on March 25, 2015, with a 6-0 vote.
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Related legislation: AB 270 (Nazarian), which requires the
Department of Public Health to apply to the DMV to sponsor a
diabetes awareness, education, and research license plate
program recently passed out of this committee and is awaiting a
hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 932 (Daly and Thurmond), requires an unspecified state agency
to apply to the DMV to sponsor a professional sports franchise
license plate program. AB 932 recently passed out of this
committee and is awaiting a hearing in the Assembly Arts,
Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee.
Previous legislation: SB 544 (DeSaulnier) of 2014, was similar
to this bill in that it would have directed funds towards both
the School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grants and the School
Safety and Violence Prevention Strategy Program. SB 544 was
held in the Assembly Education Committee.
SR 28 (Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing) of 2014,
requested that the DMV create a task force made up of DMV, CHP,
and local law enforcement to study and make recommendations by
July 1, 2015, on license plate designs appropriate for traffic
safety and effective law enforcement in today's environment;
declares a moratorium on legislation to increase the number of
license plate types that DMV may issue until the Legislature can
assess the full and long-term impact of the ongoing increase in
license plate types. The bill applied only to specialized
license plates that did not conform to existing statutory
requirements for the specialized license plate program.
AB 49 (Buchanan), Chapter 351, Statutes of 2014, required the
Department of Health Care Services to apply to the DMV to
sponsor a breast cancer awareness license plate program.
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AB 84 (Leslie), Chapter 454, Statutes of 2006, established a
specialized license plate program for plates that promote state
agencies.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies
Concord Police Department
Contra Costa County Office of Education
Mental Health America of California
Stanislaus County Office of Education
Stanislaus County Sheriffs' Department
STAND! For Families Free of Violence
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093