BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2253
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 2253
(Grove) - As Amended April 13, 2016
SUBJECT: Specialized license plates: In God We Trust
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
(CalVet) to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
sponsor an "In God We Trust" specialized license plate program.
Establishes the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Fund
and specifies that revenues from the fund will be used by CalVet
to fund the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Program and
the development of affordable services for veterans.
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 has received not less than
7,500 paid applications for that agency's specialized license
plates.
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4)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.
5)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.
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 specialty license plate
required specific legislative authorization. That practice was
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
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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.
In regards to AB 2253, the author intends to include license
plates bearing "In God We Trust," the national motto since the
1950s, among the possible plates a vehicle owner can choose to
display. Sixteen other states have similar license plates.
According to the author, "it is completely appropriate for
Californians to have the option to have our national motto
displayed on their license plates if they so choose." Funds
generated by this specialized license plate program would be
used by CalVet to fund homeless veterans prevention programs,
and the development of affordable services for veterans.
Reconsideration: This bill failed passage in this committee on
April 11, 2016, and was granted reconsideration.
Double referral: This bill will be referred to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee should it pass out of this committee.
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Related legislation: Currently there are six 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 passed out of this Committee with no 'No' votes and are
currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee. AB 1884
(Harper) to raise money for mental health awareness was approved
by this Committee on March 14, 2016, AB 2131 (Maienschein) would
raise money for local food banks, and AB 2303 (Holden) would
raise money for the Active Transportation Program, both passed
out of this committee on April 11, 2016. These three bills are
currently awaiting a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations
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
(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].
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Honorable Josh Bryant, Councilmember, City of Taft
Honorable Roger Gitlin, Del Norte County Board of Supervisors,
First District
Honorable Mick Gleason, Kern County Board of Supervisors, First
District
Honorable Mike Maggard, Kern County Board of Supervisors, Third
District
Honorable James C. Predmore, Mayor, City of Holtville
Honorable Zac Scrivner, Kern County Board of Supervisors, Second
District
Honorable Michael Van Winkle, Mayor of Waterford
Honorable Acquanetta Warren, Mayor, City of Fontana
Sheriff Donny Youngblood, Kern County Sheriff
4 private citizens
Opposition
1 private citizen
Analysis Prepared by:Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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