BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2253
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Date of Hearing: April 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 2253
(Grove) - As Amended March 18, 2016
SUBJECT: Special interest license plates: In God We Trust -
America, Inc.
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
design and make available for issuance special interest license
plates, in consultation with In God We Trust - America, Inc.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits DMV from accepting an application for participation
in a special interest license plate program and from issuing
special interest license plates for a new program.
2)Establishes requirements for specialized license plates issued
by DMV, including that a specialized license plate must have a
state agency sponsor and a design or message that publicizes
or promotes a state agency, or the official policy, mission,
or work of a state agency.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
AB 2253
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COMMENTS: In 2004, the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of California ruled that the process to create
new special interest license plate programs was
unconstitutional, as the Legislature approved some plate designs
sponsored by private non-profit entities 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 prohibited DMV from accepting an application for
participation in a special interest license plate program and
from issuing special interest license plates for a new program.
This excluded private organizations from seeking special
interest license plates as a forum for private speech, and thus
addressed the court's objection. The current specialized
license plate program permits a state agency to initiate the
development and sponsorship of a specialized plate, and the
revenue the plate generates must publicize or promote a state
agency, or the official policy, mission, or work of a state
agency.
In 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a state's
specialty license plate designs constitute government speech and
that the state is entitled to freely choose a plate's design
and, in doing so, does not implicate the free speech rights of
private persons.
This bill would revive the special interest plate program by
requiring DMV to design and issue special interest plates in
consultation with a specific non-profit organization.
Committee concerns: Despite the Supreme Court ruling, DMV is
still federally enjoined from approving any new special interest
license plate under the process for creating special interest
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license plates set out in California law. Although that process
remains in existing statute, existing law also prohibits DMV
from accepting an application for participation in a special
interest license plate program and from issuing special interest
license plates for a new program. This bill would require DMV
to create a new special interest plate notwithstanding that
statutory prohibition. However this bill cannot override a
federal injunction. If DMV were to create the plate required by
this bill, it would be in violation of that injunction.
Furthermore, by reviving the defunct special interest license
plate program, this bill could once again put the Legislature in
the position of picking and choosing between messages promoted
by various non-profit organizations. While the Legislature
currently picks and chooses between messages promoted by state
agencies through the specialized license plate program, all the
messages it picks are already endorsed as government speech by
virtue of being related to the official policy, mission, or work
of existing government entities. This bill could set a
precedent for endorsing certain private speech as government
speech by identifying messages that would only be considered
government speech because they appear on license plates, and not
because they reflect any official activity of an existing
government agency.
Double referral: This bill will be referred to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee should it pass out of this committee.
Previous legislation: AB 84 (Leslie), Chapter 454, Statutes of
2006, prohibited DMV from creating any new plates under the
special interest license plate program and established the
current specialized license plate program with specific
requirements.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 2253
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Support
None on file
Opposition
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
Analysis Prepared by:Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093