BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2469
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
2469 (Frazier)
As Enrolled August 16, 2016
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 28, |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 11, |
| | |2016) | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY: Authorizes the California Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) until September 5, 2016, to indicate its
intention to extend the period to collect applications for its
specialized license plate program by an additional 12 months,
without offering applicants refunds on their deposits. This
bill contains an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Allows any state agency to apply to Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) to sponsor a specialized license plate program
and requires DMV to issue specialized license plates for that
program if the agency complies with all statutory
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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, 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; 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.
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
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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 of a
new specialized plate without additional legislation.
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 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.
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
license plate program, with revenues from the program being
deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast
Cancer Fund.
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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 needed 7,500 applications without having
to contact each applicant and offer them a refund.
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 extensions to agencies
for up to 36 months, allowing sponsors to successfully acquire
the number of applications needed to produce new plates.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
This bill would authorized the Department of Health Care
Services to request an additional year to collect a minimum of
7,500 applications to qualify a breast cancer awareness
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specialized license plate without notifying existing applicants
of the extension or their option to cancel their order and
receive a refund.
Since the department has already requested an extension and
notified existing applicants of their option to request a
refund, I believe this bill is unnecessary.
Analysis Prepared by:
Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0004987