BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 192 (Travis Allen) - Specialized license plates
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|Version: July 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 11 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 192 would require the State Coastal Conservancy
(SCC) to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
sponsor a coastal conservancy awareness specialized license
plate program, as specified. The bill would also allow funds
collected through the existing Pet Lover's specialized license
plate program to be allocated to a nonprofit organization that
would disburse the funds to qualifying spay and neuter
facilities, as specified. The Veterinary Medical Board (VMB)
would retain an oversight role for the Pet Lover's grant
program.
Fiscal
Impact:
The SCC would incur costs of $30,000 in 2015-16 for plate
design and development of materials, and likely minor costs in
2016-17, and potentially 2017-18, for staff time to collect
the initial 7,500 applications and fees for the establishment
of the plate program (State Coastal Conservancy Fund). There
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could be additional costs of approximately $60,000 if SCC
executes a marketing strategy to attract applicants. If the
license plate program is implemented, SCC would incur ongoing
administrative costs, potentially up to $100,000 annually
(Coastal Conservancy Awareness Fund).
Assuming 7,500 pre-paid applications are collected by the SCC,
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 2017-18
or 2018-19, 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 coastal conservancy 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 SCC for specified conservancy purposes (based on
7,500 plate renewals, and not accounting for administrative
costs).
Diversion of funding for personalizing a coastal conservancy
awareness plate from the California Environmental License
Plate Fund to the School Violence Prevention Fund. See staff
comments.
Likely minor fiscal impacts related to the authority for the
VMB to designate a nonprofit entity for administering grant
distribution under the Pet Lover's plate program. The overall
limit of 25 percent for administrative purposes would still
apply. (Pet Lover's Fund)
Background: Prior to 2007, any new special interest license plate required
specific legislative authorization. This practice was held to
be unconstitutional in that the Legislature approved some of the
plates, and rejected others, using no standardized or objective
criteria for those decisions. Current law, as enacted by AB 84
(Leslie), Ch. 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
AB 192 (Travis Allen) Page 2 of
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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, existing law requires payment of the following
fees 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 fee revenues associated
with the plate, after subtracting DMV administrative costs, are
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. If an applicant wishes to personalize a specialized
license plate, the following additional fees would apply: $48
for original issuance, $38 for renewal, and $38 for transfer to
another vehicle. Any fees paid for personalization would be
deposited into the California Environmental License Plate Fund
for expenditure on various environmental protection purposes.
The State Coastal Conservancy develops and implements projects
that protect, restore, and enhance natural, recreational, and
economic resources along California's coast, coastal watersheds,
the ocean, and within the San Francisco Bay Area. The SCC
supports projects through direct funding and grants to local
agencies and nonprofit organizations that do the following: (1)
protect and enhance the natural environment, agricultural and
scenic lands, and urban waterfronts in coastal areas; (2)
increase public access to coastal areas, build trails, and
increase opportunities for outdoor recreation; (3) support K-12
education programs about coastal resources; and (4) prepare for
and mitigate impacts of climate change in coastal areas.
Proposed Law:
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AB 192 would require the SCC to apply to DMV to sponsor a
coastal conservancy awareness license plate program pursuant to
the requirements of the specialized license plate program in
existing law. The bill would require additional fees derived
from the plate program to be deposited into the Coastal
Conservancy Awareness Fund, established by this bill. Revenues
would be allocated to the SCC, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to fund projects and programs that accomplish
purposes consistent with existing authority, with priority
provided to specified purposes. The bill authorizes the SCC to
enter into agreements with governmental entities or nonprofit
organizations to assist in accomplishing any eligible projects
or programs. The plates would bear a decal that DMV determines
would not obscure readability of the license plate depicting a
surfer design, as approved by the SCC.
AB 192 would also establish the Pet Lover's Fund in the
Specialized License Plate Fund and require funds to be allocated
to the Veterinary Medical Board, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, and the VMB would allocate those funds to a
nonprofit organization it selects to disburse funds to
qualifying spay and neuter facilities to provide grants to
providers of low- and no-cost animal sterilization services.
The VMB would determine grant eligibility, develop the program,
and contract with any entity, including a nonprofit
organization, to implement and administer the grant program.
The VMB would provide oversight for the disbursal of grant funds
under the program.
Related
Legislation: Over the past five years, 13 bills have been
introduced directing a state agency to sponsor a specialized
license plate for a variety of causes, and eight of these bills
were enacted. Most recently, the following four bills were
signed into law in 2014: AB 49 (Buchanan), Ch. 351/2014, for
breast cancer awareness; AB 1096 (Nestande), Ch. 353/2014, for
Salton Sea restoration; AB 2321 (Gomez) Ch. 358/2014, for
domestic violence prevention and sexual assault awareness; and
AB 2450 (Logue), Ch. 359/2014, for kidney disease awareness.
There are three other specialized license plates pending in this
Committee: AB 63 (Bonilla) would require the Department of
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Education to apply to the DMV to sponsor a school violence
prevention license plate program; AB 270 (Nazarian) would
require the Department of Public Health to apply to DMV to
sponsor a diabetes awareness specialized plate program; AB 932
(Daly) would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to
apply to DMV to sponsor a professional sports franchise license
plate program, as specified.
Staff
Comments: As noted above, any state agency may sponsor a 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 the SCC to sponsor a plate at its
discretion, this bill would require the Conservancy department
to apply to DMV to sponsor a coastal conservancy awareness plate
program.
As a sponsoring entity, existing law requires SCC 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, SCC
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 the SCC 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 notes that only two of the 12 specialized plate
programs signed into law since 2000 have successfully met the
minimum threshold of 7,500 pre-paid applications.
Staff estimates that SCC would incur initial costs of
approximately $30,000 in 2015-16 to design the coastal
conservancy awareness license plate and apply to DMV to sponsor
the plate, and likely minor costs in 2016-17, and possibly in
2017-18, to collect applications and fees. There could be
additional costs of approximately $60,000 to the extent the SCC
implements a marketing strategy to attract applicants, although
that is not an explicit requirement in the bill or current law.
Staff notes that there is no requirement that the SCC incur
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costs beyond the initial 12 month period if less than 7,500
applications have been collected. If the program is fully
implemented, staff estimates the SCC could incur annual costs of
up to $100,000 to administer the program. It is unclear whether
SCC's ongoing costs would be fully covered by the specified
maximum of 25 percent of plate funds that may be used for
administrative costs. Costs in excess of these amounts would be
a special fund expense (State Coastal Conservancy Fund).
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 coastal conservancy awareness plate program would not be
implemented and there would be no further costs or revenues
derived from the bill.
If the license plate program is implemented, it would generate
at least $300,000 in annual revenues for specified SCC purposes
(assuming the minimum 7,500 plate holders paid a $40 renewal
fee). After deducting SCC's allowable administrative costs,
there would likely be less than $250,000 in plate funds
available for these purposes. The SCC would not need to
establish a new program, as all of the eligible expenditures
specified in the bill are consistent with the Conservancy's
existing authority. The license plate funds would likely be
used to supplement existing grant programs.
Existing law requires specified additional funds related to
personalizing a specialized license plate must be deposited into
the California Environmental License Plate Fund. This bill
requires DMV to deposit all fees collected from the sale of the
coastal conservancy awareness plates into the Coastal Commission
Awareness Fund, after deducting administrative costs. This
would appear to result in the diversion of any revenues
associated with personalization from the Environmental License
Plate Fund to the new fund for expenditure by the SCC.
Staff notes that the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
authored, and the Senate approved, SR 28 last year to declare a
moratorium on legislation to increase the number of specialized
plate types that DMV may issue until the Legislature can assess
the full and long-term impacts of the ongoing increase in
license plate types. The resolution requested DMV to establish
a task force to study plate proliferation and make
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recommendations to the Legislature and Governor by July 1, 2015.
That report is still pending, and the proposed moratorium has
apparently not prevented new plate proposals from moving forward
in the current Session.
Pet Lover's plate provisions:
The Veterinary Medical Board administratively sponsored a
specialty plate with the purpose of funding low- and no-cost
animal sterilization services. That plate received more than
7,500 applications and is now in production. The VMB, as the
sponsoring agency for the Pet Lover's License Plate Program,
must retain the oversight for granting funds collected through
the plate program to qualified providers. The board does not
have sufficient staff to administer the program and is seeking
assistance from a non-profit organization to provide general
administrative support, such as providing recommendations for
grant criteria, accepting and reviewing grant applications, and
making recommendations to the VMB regarding eligible providers
of low-cost spay and neuter services. This bill would require
the VMB to develop the program, including eligibility and
application processes, and provide oversight over grant
distribution, but allow for contracting with a qualified
non-profit for general administrative support. The state fiscal
impacts of shifting administrative responsibilities to a
nonprofit organization are likely to be minor. The existing
limit on using 25 percent of available funds for marketing and
administrative purposes remains, and the bill allows the
nonprofit entity to use up to five percent of funds for its
administrative purposes, which must be included as a part of the
overall 25 percent limit for administrative costs.
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