SB 773, as amended, 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, counterfeits, 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 Vehiclesbegin insert to enter into an agreement with the University of California to share its vehicle registration information for purposes of conducting the studyend insert andbegin insert would requireend insert the Department of the California Highway Patrol to provide specified information to the University of California researchers who are conducting 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 are both illegal and fundamentally unfair to the vast
5majority of Californians who comply with registration
6requirements. These crimes rob the state and local governments
7of millions of dollars of revenues needed for vital purposes, such
8as transportation projects, supporting the Department of the
9California Highway Patrol, deterring auto theft, enforcing laws
10prohibiting driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs,
11removing abandoned vehicles, and many other socially desirable
12
programs.
13(2) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
14motor vehicle also have significant public health consequences
15and contribute disproportionately to motor vehicle emissions
16because many individuals committing registration fraud have gross
17emitting vehicles and are deliberately circumventing the inspection
18and maintenance program.
19(3) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
20motor vehicle also significantly increase insurance costs for
21law-abiding citizens.
22(4) It is in the public interest to have motor vehicle owners
23comply with existing registration laws.
24(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to
encourage
25motorists 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
28a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register
29a motor vehicle. The study shall include all of the following:
30(1) Quantification of the magnitude of the problem.
P3 1(2) The strategies being used by motorists to commit motor
2vehicle registration fraud.
3(3) The reasons for the behaviors of motorists who commit fraud
4in registration of, or who fail to register, their motor vehicles.
5(4) The costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues.
6(5) Increases in air pollution.
7(6) Other costs and consequences of these behaviors.
8(7) Recommended strategies for increasing compliance with
9registration requirements.
10(b) The Department of Motor Vehicles shallbegin insert enter into an
11agreement with the University of California toend insert share itsbegin delete existing vehicle registration
12database ofend deletebegin delete recordsend deletebegin insert
informationend insert with the
13University of California researchersbegin delete who areend deletebegin insert for the purposes ofend insert
14 conducting the study. The Department of the California Highway
15Patrol shall share information on their efforts to combat registration
16fraud, including the CHEATERS program, with the University of
17California researchers who are conducting the study.
18(c) The University of California is requested to post a report of
19the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017.
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