BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2469|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2469
Author: Frazier (D)
Amended: 8/2/16 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/21/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Specialized license plates: breast cancer awareness
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Allows any state agency to apply to DMV to sponsor a
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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.
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 12 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.
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
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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.
3)Requires DHCS to apply to the DMV to sponsor a breast cancer
awareness specialized license plate, as specified.
This bill authorizes DHCS to collect applications for a
specialized license plate program for an additional 12-month
period, without offering applicants refunds on their deposits.
Comments
1)Purpose. The purpose of this bill is to extend the time in
which DHCS can accept applications for the breast cancer
awareness license plate program by up to 12 months. Without
this bill, DHCS will stop accepting applications on September
5, 2016, and begin the process of refunding application fees.
2)History of special-interest license plates. Historically, the
Vehicle Code required the DMV to issue, upon legislative
authorization, a special-interest license plate bearing a
distinctive design or decal of a sponsoring organization to
any vehicle owner that pays specified fees, provided that the
sponsoring organization met certain conditions. These
conditions included that the sponsor of a special-interest
license plate had to be a nonprofit organization and had to
collect 7,500 applications and fees for a special license
plate in order to pay DMV's costs of creating a new plate,
which is approximately $375,000 or 7,500 applications times
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the $50 fee.
In 2004, a federal court decision, Women's Resource Network v.
Gourley, E.D. Cal 2004, F.Supp.2d, 2004 U.S. Dist.,
invalidated these provisions of the Vehicle Code. In the
Gourley decision, the court declared California's
special-interest license plate statutes unconstitutional
because they violated the First Amendment right to freedom of
speech. The court specifically objected to the Legislature
"picking and choosing" special license plates that private
organizations propose, in essence promoting the message of
some organizations while denying this right to others. The
court did allow the 10 special-interest license plates
existing at the time of its decision to remain in use and
available to new applicants, as they are today.
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. Newly created plates and the revenue they generate
must publicize or promote a state agency or the official
policy, mission, or work of a state agency.
3)History of the breast cancer awareness specialty license
plate. 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. The DMV began collecting pre-paid
applications for that plate through a Web site, pinkplate.org.
As of mid-April 2016, the DMV indicates that the DHCS has
collected 2,116 applications. In early August the
pinkplate.org Web site updated that number to 2,645. Either
way, given historic application rates, it is unlikely that
7,500 pre-paid applications will be received even with the
extended application date proposed by this bill unless some
significant and sustained marketing effort is planned.
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Specialized plates typically fail to obtain sufficient
applications to meet the threshold of 7,500. Of the 12
legislatively sponsored plates approved since 2000, only two
have met the threshold.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/3/16)
Susan G. Komen California Collaborative
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/3/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Daly, Mathis, Olsen
Prepared by:Randy Chinn / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/3/16 19:00:49
**** END ****
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