BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 257|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 257
Author: Bates (R), et al.
Amended: 6/2/15
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 4/28/15
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Vehicles: Gold Star Family license plates
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to issue personalized Gold Star License Plates upon
payment of specified fees.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Personalized license plates
1)Allows a vehicle owner, when registering a vehicle, to request
a personalized license plate (sometimes referred to as a
"vanity plate" or called an "environmental license plate" in
state law) that the DMV issues in a combination of letters or
numbers, or both, that the vehicle owner selects. Vehicle
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owners must pay additional fees for the issuance, renewal,
transfer, and duplicates of a personalized plate. Revenue
derived from these fees supports a variety of state activities
that have some environmental connection.
Gold Star Family specialized license plates
2)Provides for a specialized license plate program, under which
the DMV may issue new special-interest license plates only on
behalf of state agencies. A state agency's special-interest
license plate design must publicize or promote the agency, its
work, its official policy, or its mission, and be confined to
the left of and below the numerical series (i.e., no
full-plate designs allowed).
Prior to the DMV issuing a new special-interest license plate,
the state agency must submit 7,500 applications and fees to
the DMV for the license plate. In addition to the usual
vehicle registration fees, these fees include additional
charges for specialized license plates to fund the work of the
state agency. The additional fees for the first 7,500
applications cover the DMV's costs to establish the license
plate.
3)Allows, specifically, the California Department of Veterans
Affairs (CDVA) to sponsor a Gold Star Family specialized
license plate in the absence of 7,500 paid applications,
provided that the CDVA raises sufficient funds through private
and public donations to cover the DMV's costs to establish
this license plate. The CDVA collected sufficient donated
funds, and DMV began issuing Gold Star Family license plates
in November 2010.
To receive Gold Star Family license plates for a vehicle, the
vehicle's registered owner must present proof from either the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of
Defense showing that a family member who was in the Armed
Forces of the United States was killed while on active duty.
4)Exempts Gold Star Family license plates from the additional
fees for special-interest license plates and for personalized
plates. The law also requires that the DMV issue the plates
in a sequential series. Therefore, the DMV may not issue
these as personalized license plates.
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This bill requires the DMV, as of July 1, 2016, to issue
personalized Gold Star Family license plates (e.g., not in
sequential series) upon payment of $48, with additional fees for
renewals and transfers. The fees shall be deposited into the
Motor Vehicle Account. Once those fees have covered the DMV's
cost of implementing the personalization program, all additional
fees shall be deposited into the Veterans Service Office Fund.
Comments
Purpose of bill. The author states that Gold Star Family
license plates pay homage to and remind passersby of the noble
sacrifices made by both the fallen veterans and their families.
Immediate family members who have lost a loved one should not be
subject to the arbitrary restriction of prohibiting the
personalization of these license plates when trying to honor
their fallen family member.
In the beginning. SB 1455 (Cogdill, Chapter 309, Statutes of
2008) authorized the CDVA to sponsor the Gold Star Family
license plate even without 7,500 paid applications for the
plate. The fees accompanying these applications would have
covered DMV's costs to establish the plate. Instead, SB 1455
allowed CDVA to raise private and public donations, and when DMV
deemed those sufficient to cover its startup costs, then DMV
would start production of the plate. During negotiations on
that bill, DMV staff indicated that the costs of establishing
the plate would be significantly lower if DMV issued the plate
solely in sequential order rather than as personalized plates.
To reduce the amount of funds that CDVA would need to raise, SB
1455 included the provision allowing DMV to issue sequential
plates only. This bill removes that provision, thereby causing
DMV to incur additional costs now to modify its system to
provide for personalized Gold Star Family license plates.
No windfall. The DMV estimates its cost to offer personalized
Gold Star Family license plates at $425,000. At $48 apiece, it
will take an additional 8,850 of these plates to cover the DMV's
costs. Since November 2010, when the Gold Star Family license
plates were first made available, 733 have been issued,
virtually unchanged from last year.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
1)One-time DMV costs in the range of $425,000 in 2015-16,
primarily related to programming changes to allow for
personalization of Gold Star Family plates as well as changes
to forms and DMV's Web site. (Motor Vehicle Account)
2)Minor future revenue gains will partially offset DMV's initial
programming costs. It is unlikely that the full costs would
be offset in the near future. All revenues from the initial
$48 fee for a new plate applicant, plus any fees for transfers
or annual renewal fees, would be used to reimburse DMV's
costs. The timing of full repayment would depend upon future
demand for personalization of the plates.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/28/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/28/15)
None received
Prepared by:Randy Chinn / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
6/2/15 22:06:38
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