California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2746

Introduced by Assembly Member Obernolte

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker, Bigelow, Brown, Cooper, Dahle, Gallagher, Ting, and Wood)

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Sections 1808.7, 1808.10, and 42007 of, and to repeal and amend Section 41501 of, the Vehicle Code, relating to traffic school.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2746, as introduced, Obernolte. Traffic school: intervals.

Under existing law, after a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture, a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, a court may order a continuance of a proceeding against a person, who receives a notice to appear in court for a violation of a statute relating to the safe operation of a vehicle, in consideration for successful completion of a course of instruction at a licensed school for traffic violators, a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program of driving instruction. Existing law requires the record of the Department of Motor Vehicles relating to the first proceeding and conviction in any 18-month period for completion of a traffic violator school program to be confidential, not be disclosed, except as specified, and to be used only for statistical purposes by the department.

This bill would reduce the applicable time period between convictions under the circumstances described above from 18 months to 12 months. The bill also would make various conforming and technical changes.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Educated Driver Act of 2016.

SEC. 2.  

Section 1808.7 of the Vehicle Code, as added by
Section 2.5 of Chapter 599 of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to
read:

1808.7.  

(a) The record of the department relating to the first
proceeding and conviction under Section 1803.5 in any begin delete 18-month end delete
begin insert 12-month end insert period for completion of a traffic violator school program
is confidential, shall not be disclosed to any person, except a court
and as provided for in subdivision (b), and shall be used only for
statistical purposes by the department. begin delete No end delete begin insert A end insert violation point count
shall begin insert not end insert be assessed pursuant to Section 12810 if the conviction
is confidential.

(b) The record of a conviction described in subdivision (a) shall
not be confidential if any of the following circumstances applies:

(1) The person convicted holds a commercial driver’s license begin insert , end insert
as defined by Section 15210.

(2) The person convicted holds a commercial driver’s license
in another state, in accordance with Part 383 begin insert (commencing with
Section 383.1_) of Subchapter B of Chapter III of Subtitle B end insert of
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(3) The violation occurred in a commercial motor vehicle, as
defined in subdivision (b) of Section 15210.

(4) The conviction would result in a violation point count of
more than one point pursuant to Section 12810.

(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2011.

SEC. 3.  

Section 1808.10 of the Vehicle Code is amended to
read:

1808.10.  

The record of the department relating to the first
proceeding and conviction for a driver licensed with a class A
license, class B license, or commercial class C driver’s license in
any begin delete 18-month end delete begin insert 12-month end insert period who is allowed, for a traffic offense
while operating a vehicle requiring only a class C or a class M
license, to complete a course of instruction at a traffic violator
school, is not confidential and shall be disclosed for purposes of
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations and to insurers by the
department for insurance underwriting and rating purposes.

SEC. 4.  

Section 41501 of the Vehicle Code, as added by
Section 12.5 of Chapter 216 of the Statutes of 2010, is repealed.

begin delete

41501.  

(a) After a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture, a plea of
guilty or no contest, or a conviction, the court may order a
continuance of a proceeding against a person, who receives a notice
to appear in court for a violation of a statute relating to the safe
operation of a vehicle, in consideration for successful completion
of a course of instruction at a licensed school for traffic violators,
a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program of
driving instruction, and pursuant to Section 1803.5 or 42005, the
court may order that the conviction be held confidential by the
department according to Section 1808.7.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a person who receives a
notice to appear as to, or is otherwise charged with, a violation of
an offense described in subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section
12810.

(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2011.

end delete

SEC. 5.  

Section 41501 of the Vehicle Code, as amended by
Section 311 of Chapter 296 of the Statutes of 2011, is amended to
read:

41501.  

(a) After a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture, a plea of
guilty or no contest, or a conviction, the court may order a
continuance of a proceeding against a person, who receives a notice
to appear in court for a violation of a statute relating to the safe
operation of a vehicle, in consideration for successful completion
of a course of instruction at a licensed school for traffic violators begin insert , end insert
begin insert a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program
of driving instruction, end insert and pursuant to Section 1803.5 or 42005,
the court may order that the conviction be held confidential by the
department in accordance with Section 1808.7. The court shall
notify a person that only one conviction within begin delete 18 end delete begin insert 12 end insert months will
be held confidential.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a person who receives a
notice to appear as to, or is otherwise charged with, a violation of
an offense described in subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section
12810.

(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2011.

SEC. 6.  

Section 42007 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:

42007.  

(a) (1)  begin insert (A) end insert begin insert   end insert The clerk of the court shall collect a fee
from every person who is ordered or permitted to attend a traffic
violator school pursuant to Section 41501 or 42005 in an amount
equal to the total bail set forth for the eligible offense on the
uniform countywide bail schedule. As used in this subdivision,
“total bail” means the amount established pursuant to Section
1269b of the Penal Code in accordance with the Uniform Bail and
Penalty Schedule adopted by the Judicial Council, including all
assessments, surcharges, and penalty amounts. begin delete Where end delete begin insert If end insert multiple
offenses are charged in a single notice to appear, the “total bail”
is the amount applicable for the greater of the qualifying offenses.
However, the court may determine a lesser fee under this
subdivision upon a showing that the defendant is unable to pay
the full amount.

begin delete

The

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert fee shall not include the cost, or any part thereof, of
traffic safety instruction offered by a traffic violator school.

(2) The clerk may accept from a defendant who is ordered or
permitted to attend traffic violator school a payment of at least 10
percent of the fee required by paragraph (1) upon filing a written
agreement by the defendant to pay the remainder of the fee
according to an installment payment schedule of no more than 90
days as agreed upon with the court. The Judicial Council shall
prescribe the form of the agreement for payment of the fee in
installments. When the defendant signs the Judicial Council form
for payment of the fee in installments, the court shall continue the
case to the date in the agreement to complete payment of the fee
and submit the certificate of completion of traffic violator school
to the court. The clerk shall collect a fee of up to thirty-five dollars
($35) to cover administrative and clerical costs for processing an
installment payment of the traffic violator school fee under this
paragraph.

(3) If a defendant fails to make an installment payment of the
fee according to an installment agreement, the court may convert
the fee to bail, declare it forfeited, and report the forfeiture as a
conviction under Section 1803. The court may also charge a failure
to pay under Section 40508 and impose a civil assessment as
provided in Section 1214.1 of the Penal Code or issue an arrest
warrant for a failure to pay. For the purposes of reporting a
conviction under this subdivision to the department under Section
1803, the date that the court declares the bail forfeited shall be
reported as the date of conviction.

(b) Revenues derived from the fee collected under this section
shall be deposited in accordance with Section 68084 of the
Government Code in the general fund of the county and, as may
be applicable, distributed as follows:

(1) In any county in which a fund is established pursuant to
Section 76100 or 76101 of the Government Code, the sum of one
dollar ($1) for each fund so established shall be deposited with the
county treasurer and placed in that fund.

(2) In any county that has established a Maddy Emergency
Medical Services Fund pursuant to Section 1797.98a of the Health
and Safety Code, an amount equal to the sum of each two dollars
($2) for every seven dollars ($7) that would have been collected
pursuant to Section 76000 of the Government Code and,
commencing January 1, 2009, an amount equal to the sum of each
two dollars ($2) for every ten dollars ($10) that would have been
collected pursuant to Section 76000.5 of the Government Code
with respect to those counties to which that section is applicable
shall be deposited in that fund. Nothing in the act that added this
paragraph shall be interpreted in a manner that would result in
either of the following:

(A) The utilization of penalty assessment funds that had been
set aside, on or before January 1, 2000, to finance debt service on
a capital facility that existed before January 1, 2000.

(B) The reduction of the availability of penalty assessment
revenues that had been pledged, on or before January 1, 2000, as
a means of financing a facility begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert was approved by a
county board of supervisors, but on January 1, 2000, is not under
construction.

(3) The amount of the fee that is attributable to Section 70372
of the Government Code shall be transferred pursuant to
subdivision (f) of that section.

(c) For fees resulting from city arrests, an amount equal to the
amount of base fines that would have been deposited in the treasury
of the appropriate city pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision
(b) of Section 1463.001 of the Penal Code shall be deposited in
the treasury of the appropriate city.

(d) The clerk of the court, in a county that offers traffic school
shall include in any courtesy notice mailed to a defendant for an
offense that qualifies for traffic school attendance the following
statement:

 

NOTICE: If you are eligible and decide not to attend traffic
school your automobile insurance may be adversely affected. For
drivers with a noncommercial driver’s license, one conviction in
any begin delete 18-month end delete begin insert 12-month end insert period will be held confidential and not
show on your driving record if you complete a traffic violator
school program. For drivers with a commercial driver’s license,
one conviction in any begin delete 18-month end delete begin insert 12-month end insert period will show on
your driving record without a violation point if you complete a
traffic violator school program.

 

(e) Notwithstanding any other begin delete provision of end delete law, a county that
has established a Maddy Emergency Medical Services Fund
pursuant to Section 1797.98a of the Health and Safety Code shall
not be held liable for having deposited into the fund, prior to
January 1, 2009, an amount equal to two dollars ($2) for every ten
dollars ($10) that would have been collected pursuant to Section
76000.5 of the Government Code from revenues derived from
traffic violator school fees collected pursuant to this section.