BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2469
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
2469 (Frazier)
As Amended August 2, 2016
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 28, |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 11, |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
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.
The Senate amendments allow DHCS until September 5, 2016, to
contact the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and indicate its
intention to extend the application period for its specialized
license plate program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Allows any state agency to apply to DMV to sponsor a
specialized license plate program and requires DMV to issue
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specialized license plates for that program if the agency
complies with all statutory requirements.
2)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.
3)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 to DMV.
4)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)Requires DHCS to apply to the DMV to sponsor a breast cancer
awareness specialized license plate, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
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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.
Existing law authorizes a sponsoring agency to extend the 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
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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.
This bill 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.
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.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
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