BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2469
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Date of Hearing: April 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 2469
(Frazier) - As Amended March 29, 2016
SUBJECT: Specialized license plates: breast cancer awareness
SUMMARY: Authorizes the California Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) to collect applications for a specialized
license plate program for an additional 12-month period, without
offering applicants refunds on their deposits. This bill
contains an urgency clause.
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 the agency, if twelve months have elapsed since the
approval of the agency's initial application to sponsor a
specialized license plate program without receiving the
required number of applications, to either:
a) Refund to all applicants all fees or deposits that have
been collected; or,
b) Contact DMV to indicate the agency's intent to undertake
collection of additional applications for an additional 12
month period and contact each applicant who has submitted
an application to determine if the applicant wishes a
refund of fees or deposits or requests the continuance of
the holding of the application and fees or deposits until
the agency has received 7,500 applications.
1)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.
2)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.
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3)Requires DHCS to apply to the DMV to sponsor a breast cancer
awareness specialized license plate, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Prior to 2007, any new specialized 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
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.
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Existing law authorizes a sponsoring agency to extend the
12-month period to collect the needed number of applications by
another 12 months, if it contacts both DMV to indicate its
intention to continue collecting applications, and each
applicant who has already submitted a deposit to determine if
they wish to remain on the list of applicants or receive a
refund and be removed from the list.
AB 49 (Buchanan), Chapter 351, Statutes of 2014, required DHCS
to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness specialized
license plate program, with revenues from the program being
deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast
Cancer Fund.
Proponents of AB 49, and of this specialized license plate
program, have yet to reach the required number of applicants,
and wish to extend the deadline by another 12 months without
having to offer each applicant a refund. It is unclear if the
proponents of the plate will be able to acquire the necessary
number of applicants by the end of the initial 12-month period,
or by the end of an additional 12-month period if some
applicants remove themselves from the list.
AB 2469 would authorize DHCS to obtain a 12-month extension to
finish collecting the necessary 7,500 applications, without
requiring the department to contact each applicant who has
submitted an application to determine if they wish to remain on
the list or receive a refund and be removed from the list.
According to the author, allowing DHCS to focus on acquiring new
applications instead of offering refunds to current applicants
will expedite their goal of reaching the necessary 7,500
applications needed to increase breast cancer awareness and
funding. This bill contains an urgency clause, allowing DHCS
and the plate proponents to immediately work to secure more
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signatures, without waiting for the July 2016 deadline imposed
by current statute to obtain an extension.
The Legislature has previously granted additional extensions to
sponsoring agencies beyond the standard 24 months, up to 36
months, allowing the sponsors to successfully acquire the
necessary number of applications and trigger production of the
plates.
Related legislation: Currently there are five bills in the
legislative process that would direct a state agency to sponsor
a specialized license plate for a specific cause: 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. These
three bills passed out of this Committee with no 'No' votes and
are currently awaiting a hearing in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
AB 1884 (Harper), would raise money for mental health awareness.
AB 1884 passed out of this committee on March 14, 2016, with a
vote of 16-0, and I awaiting a hearing in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2131 (Maienschein) would raise money for California food
banks. AB 2131 is currently awaiting a hearing in this
committee.
Previous legislation: AB 610 (Solorio), Chapter 9, Statutes of
2012, provided an additional 12 months for the collection of the
7,500 paid applications necessary for the Veterinary Medical
Board to successfully sponsor a specialized license plate,
beyond the existing 24-month period. The Board's specialized
license plate is now in production.
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AB 49 (Buchanan), Chapter 351, Statutes of 2014, required DHCS
to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness specialized
license plate program.
SR 28 (Committee on Transportation and Housing), adopted in
2014, requested DMV to establish a task force made up of DMV,
the California Highway Patrol, and local law enforcement to
study and make recommendations on license plate designs
appropriate for traffic safety and effective law enforcement.
This resolution was adopted by the full Senate and DMV reported
its findings in September 2015.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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