BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2131
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Bill Dodd, Chair
AB 2131
(Maienschein) - As Amended April 18, 2016
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |16-0 |Frazier, Linder, | |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Brown, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Kim, Mathis, | |
| | |Medina, Melendez, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Specialized license plates.
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to sponsor the "Imagine" specialized license plate
program, for the purpose of helping food banks end hunger in
California. Establishes the Imagine Account and specifies that
AB 2131
Page 2
revenues from the account will be allocated by CDFA to a
non-profit organization for the purpose of funding local food
banks. Requires the design of the specialized license plate
include specific images and messages. Specifically, this bill:
EXISTING LAW: Allows any state agency to apply to DMV to
sponsor a specialized license plate program; requires DMV to
issue specialized license plates for that program if the agency
complies with all statutory requirements; prohibits DMV from
establishing a specialized license plate program for an agency
until it has received not less than 7,500 paid applications for
that agency's specialized license plates; requires the agency to
collect and hold applications for the plates. Once the agency
has received at least 7,500 applications, it must submit the
applications, along with the necessary fees, to DMV; prohibits
advance payment to DMV of its estimated or actual administrative
costs associated with the issuance of a particular specialized
license plate from constituting compliance with the 7,500
application threshold requirement; 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; and,
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 specialty license plate
required specific legislative authorization. That practice was
AB 2131
Page 3
held to be unconstitutional by the federal courts, as the
Legislature approved some plates and rejected others, without
using any 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. The current specialized license plate
program permits a state agency to initiate the development and
sponsorship of a specialized plate, thus no additional
legislation is required to authorize the creation of a new
plate.
Plates created under the current program 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 must be received by the state agency prior to
notifying DMV. This 7,500-application threshold was previously
put into statute in an attempt to ensure 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.
According to the author, the intent of AB 2131 is to provide
support and revenue to California's emergency food safety net
without taking resource from the General Fund. According to the
California Association of Food Banks, the sponsor of this bill,
more than 5 million Californians, including 1 in 4 children,
AB 2131
Page 4
face food insecurity every day and many of these individuals
rely on the services of food banks for access to nutrition. The
author argues that the revenue generated from this specialized
license plate program will be instrumental in funding California
food banks to reach the goal of ending hunger in California.
This bill would dedicate the revenues from this specialized
license plate program to qualifying local food banks through a
program administered by CDFA in conjunction with a non-profit
organization.
This bill specifies the design of the Imagine plate to include
the likeness of John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles,
characterized by the bill's proponents as the most commercially
successful band in the history of popular music. Florida
enacted a well-received specialty license plate bearing the same
theme in 2004.
RELATED LEGISLATION: There are five other bills in the
legislative process that would direct a state agency to sponsor
a specialized license plate for a specific cause. Three bills,
AB 63 (Bonilla) to raise money for school safety, AB 270
(Nazarian) to raise money for diabetes awareness, and AB 932
(Daly) to raise money for local parks and recreation grant
programs, are currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1884 (Harper) to raise money for mental health awareness and
AB 2303 (Holden) to raise money for the Active Transportation
Program are currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Another measure was held by the Assembly Transportation
Committee.
PREVIOUS LEGISLATION: Since 2011, 12 bills have been introduced
directing a state agency to sponsor a specialized license plate
for a variety of causes. Since 2014, four were passed by the
Legislature and signed by the Governor. These bills would raise
funds for Salton Sea restoration [AB 1096 (Nestande), Chapter
353, Statutes of 2014], kidney disease research [AB 2450
AB 2131
Page 5
(Logue), Chapter 359, Statutes of 2014], breast cancer awareness
[AB 49 (Buchanan), Chapter 351, Statutes of 2014], and domestic
violence prevention [AB 2321 (Gomez), Chapter 358, Statutes of
2014]. None have yet gathered the necessary number of
applications to enter production.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Alameda County Community Food Bank
California Association of Food Banks
California Food Policy Advocates
Community Action Agency of Butte County, Inc.
Community Food Bank
Feeding America San Diego
FIND Food Bank
Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County
AB 2131
Page 6
Food Bank of El Dorado County
Food Bank for Monterey County
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Food for People, the Food Bank for Humboldt County
FoodLink for Tulare County
Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
OC Food Bank
Redwood Empire Food Bank
Resource Connection Food Bank
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County
SF-Marin Food Bank
AB 2131
Page 7
Shasta Senior Nutrition Food Bank
Westside Food Bank
Yolo Food Bank
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084
AB 2131
Page 8