BILL NUMBER: SB 773	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Allen

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to add Section 4024 to the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicle registration.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   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:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
motor vehicle is both illegal and fundamentally unfair to the vast
majority of Californians who comply with registration requirements.
It robs the state and local governments of millions of dollars of
revenues needed for vital purposes, such as transportation projects,
supporting the Department of the California Highway Patrol, deterring
auto theft, enforcing laws prohibiting driving under the influence
of alcohol or drugs, removing abandoned vehicles, and many other
socially desirable programs.
   (2) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
motor vehicle also has significant public health consequences and
contributes disproportionately to motor vehicle emissions because
many individuals committing registration fraud have gross emitting
vehicles and are deliberately circumventing the inspection and
maintenance program.
   (3) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
motor vehicle also significantly increases insurance costs for
law-abiding citizens.
   (4) It is in the public interest to have motor vehicle owners
comply with existing registration laws.
   (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
motorists to register their vehicles in accordance with existing law.

  SEC. 2.  Section 4024 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   4024.  (a) The University of California is requested to conduct a
study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
motor vehicle. The study shall include all of the following:
   (1) Quantification of the magnitude of the problem.
   (2) The strategies being used by motorists to commit motor vehicle
registration fraud.
   (3) The reasons for the behaviors of motorists who commit fraud in
registrations of, or fail to register their, motor vehicles.
   (4) The costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues.

   (5) Increases in air pollution.
   (6) Other costs, and consequences of these behaviors.
   (7) Recommended strategies for increasing compliance with
registration requirements.
   (b) The Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of the
California Highway Patrol, and other state agencies, as requested by
the University of California, shall fully cooperate with the
University of California in conducing the study.
   (c) The University of California is requested to post a report of
the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017.