BILL NUMBER: SB 773	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 1, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 7, 2015

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 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 Vehicles  to enter into an agreement with the University of
California to share its vehicle registration information for
purposes of conducting the study  and  would require 
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:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a
motor vehicle are both illegal and fundamentally unfair to the vast
majority of Californians who comply with registration requirements.
These crimes rob 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 have significant public health consequences and
contribute 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 increase 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
registration of, or who 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 shall  enter into an
agreement with the University of California to  share its
 existing database of  vehicle registration 
records   information  with the University of
California researchers  who are   for the
purposes of  conducting the study. The Department of the
California Highway Patrol shall share information on their efforts to
combat registration fraud, including the CHEATERS program, with the
University of California researchers who are conducting 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.