BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2322
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2322 (Chu)
As Amended May 31, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |15-0 |Frazier, Linder, | |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Brown, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Mathis, | |
| | |Medina, Melendez, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |19-1 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, |Gallagher |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
AB 2322
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| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
offer the recipient of a driver's instruction permit with a
removable and transferable decal that reads "student driver" for
a fee charged to cover the department's reasonable costs of
producing the decal, and authorizes the holder of the permit to
display the decal on the side or rear window of the vehicle when
driving.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes DMV to issue an instruction permit to operate a
motor vehicle subject to certain limitations to a person 15
years and 6 months of age or older.
2)Authorizes DMV to issue a provisional driver's license to a
person at least 16 years of age but under 18 years of age who
has held an instruction permit for not less than 6 months and
has completed 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training and an
additional 50 hours of supervised driving practice.
3)Prohibits a person from driving a motor vehicle with any
object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or
applied upon the windshield or side or rear windows, except
under certain conditions.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee, based on the number of instruction permits issued in
2015, up to 1.1 million decals could be issued annually, though
a significant number of permit recipients would likely decline
to purchase a decal. The DMV estimates that cost of each decal
at $2.75, which would be charged to each recipient. Additional
statewide staff costs, for field office interactions, phone
calls requesting replacement of decals, and postage, would be up
to several hundred thousand dollars annually.
COMMENTS: Under existing law, a person at least 15 years and 6
months of age may apply for, and be issued a driver's
instruction permit. With this permit, the person may only drive
a motor vehicle when accompanied by a person over the age of 18
who has a valid California driver's license and is riding in the
passenger seat. The driver with the instruction permit must
complete 6 hours of behind-the-wheel driver training and an
additional 50 hours of supervised driving practice before being
issued a provisional driver's license.
This bill would require DMV to offer the recipient of an
instruction permit with a removable and transferrable decal that
reads "student driver" when issuing the permit. The student
driver may then display the decal on the side or rear windows of
the vehicle that they are driving in order to alert other
drivers on the road that the vehicle is being driven by a
student driver.
This bill is intended to alleviate the hazardous situations
novice drivers find themselves in when first learning to drive.
The author states that teen drivers are more of a risk of an
accident than older drivers because they tend to underestimate
or not recognize dangerous situations. According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 2,163 teens ages 16 to 19
were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the United States in
2013, and 243,243 were treated for injuries. The author intends
that, by alerting other motorists to a novice driver's presence,
AB 2322
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the student driver decals created by this bill will encourage
other drivers to give the novice driver more space and treat
them with greater deference. This will in turn encourage
student drivers to feel more comfortable and make the state's
roadways safer by reducing the number of dangerous situations
that result in fatalities and injuries.
The author also cites a New Jersey law that requires a person
who has been issued a provisional driver's license to affix a
decal to the rear license plate of the vehicle being driven to
alert the authorities and others that the driver was a novice.
Although that law was criticized for potentially allowing law
enforcement to target vehicles bearing a decal, a 2014 study
conducted by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found
that road crashes among teen drivers decreased by 9.5% in the
law's first two years of implementation.
It is unknown if this bill will have a similar effect in
California. The New Jersey law applied to people with a
provisional driver's license, who would not be included in this
bill. While New Jersey provisional driver's license holders
benefited from displaying decals, those drivers were also not
subject to the same restrictions that instruction permit holders
in California have, namely being prohibited from driving at all
without an older licensed driver in the vehicle. While decals
might help a young driver keep space between other vehicles on
the road while driving alone or deter them from unlawfully
driving with other young passengers in the vehicle, it is
unknown if there will be a material benefit to allowing drivers
who are already supervised by a parent or driving instructor to
display the same type of information. No data on crashes or
incidents involving instruction permit holders in California is
readily available. However, if the decal program established by
this bill were successful, it would likely by evidenced by a
decrease in traffic accidents involving people who have been
issued an instruction driving permit.
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Because drivers with an instruction driving permit would not be
required to display the decals, it is unknown how widespread the
practice of displaying the decals would become. However,
requiring the decals would likely raise similar concerns to
those raised in New Jersey relating to privacy and fear of being
targeted by law enforcement.
Analysis Prepared by:
Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0003182