BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 1399 Hearing Date: 4/19/2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Hueso | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |April 11, 2016 Amended | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Randy Chinn | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Department of Motor Vehicles: license plate alternatives pilot program DIGEST: This bill extends the sunset on an existing pilot program for alternative license plates from January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2018. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), upon registering a vehicle, to issue to the owner two license plates. The plates must be rectangular, 12 inches long and six inches wide, with letters and numbers with a minimum height of two and three-quarter inches, a minimum width of one and one-quarter inches, and a minimum spacing between characters of five-sixteenths of an inch. 2)Authorizes the DMV to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of alternatives to license plates, registration cards, and stickers. The pilot program must be completed by January 1, 2017. A report on the pilot is required to be submitted to the Legislature by July 1, 2018. This bill extends the sunset on the pilot program to January 1, 2018, and extends the due date of the report on the pilot program to July 1, 2019. SB 1399 (Hueso) Page 2 of ? COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, without an extension the pilot program will sunset on January 1, 2017. Additional time is needed to adequately asses the technologies being trialed and to ensure that the DMV obtains sufficient quality data to provide a comprehensive and thorough report to the Legislature. 2)New technologies. The DMV registers the 33 million vehicles in the state annually, mailing paper registration cards and physical stickers which must be affixed to the license plate. The DMV is currently evaluating three technologies to potentially modernize this process in their pilot program: an electronic license plate, an electronic vehicle registration card, and a vinyl license plate. 3)Late start. The legislation authorizing the pilot program was passed in 2013. Because of the time necessary to develop a process to solicit and evaluate potential pilot program vendors, the technologies will only have been deployed for about a year. This may not be adequate time to evaluate the durability and practicality of the technologies. Related Legislation: SB 806 (Price, Chapter 569, Statutes of 2013) - authorizes the DMV to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of alternatives to license plates, registration cards and stickers. The pilot program must be completed by January 1, 2017. A report on the pilot is required to be submitted to the Legislature by July 1, 2018. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, April 13, 2016.) SUPPORT: Motor Vehicle Software Corporation SB 1399 (Hueso) Page 3 of ? OPPOSITION: None received -- END --