SB 773, as introduced, Allen. Vehicles: registration fraud: study.
Existing law prohibits a person from driving, moving, or leaving standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly, unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid, except as specified. Existing law makes it a felony for a person who, with the intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud, alters, forges, counterfeit, or falsifies a registration card or who utters, publishes, passes, or attempts to pass, as true and genuine, a false, altered, forged, or counterfeited registration card knowing it to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeited.
This bill would request the University of California to conduct a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle, and would require the study to include specified information, including, quantification of the magnitude of the problem, the costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues, and recommended strategies for increasing compliance with registration requirements. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and other state agencies, as requested by the University of California, to fully cooperate with the University of California in conducing the study. The bill would request the University of California to post a report of the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(1) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
4motor vehicle is both illegal and fundamentally unfair to the vast
5majority of Californians who comply with registration
6requirements. It robs the state and local governments of millions
7of dollars of revenues needed for vital purposes, such as
8transportation projects, supporting the Department of the California
9Highway Patrol, deterring auto theft, enforcing laws prohibiting
10driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, removing
11abandoned vehicles, and many other socially desirable programs.
12(2) Motor vehicle registration
fraud and failure to register a
13motor vehicle also has significant public health consequences and
14contributes disproportionately to motor vehicle emissions because
15many individuals committing registration fraud have gross emitting
16vehicles and are deliberately circumventing the inspection and
17maintenance program.
18(3) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
19motor vehicle also significantly increases insurance costs for
20law-abiding citizens.
21(4) It is in the public interest to have motor vehicle owners
22comply with existing registration laws.
23(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
24motorists to register their vehicles in accordance with existing law.
Section 4024 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
(a) The University of California is requested to conduct
27a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register
28a motor vehicle. The study shall include all of the following:
29(1) Quantification of the magnitude of the problem.
30(2) The strategies being used by motorists to commit motor
31vehicle registration fraud.
32(3) The reasons for the behaviors of motorists who commit fraud
33in registrations of, or fail to register their, motor vehicles.
34(4) The costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues.
35(5) Increases in air pollution.
P3 1(6) Other costs, and consequences of these behaviors.
2(7) Recommended strategies for increasing compliance with
3registration requirements.
4(b) The Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of the
5California Highway Patrol, and other state agencies, as requested
6by the University of California, shall fully cooperate with the
7University of California in conducing the study.
8(c) The University of California is requested to post a report of
9the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017.
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