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
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          |Author:   |Hueso                                                 |
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          |Version:  |April 11, 2016    Amended                             |
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          |Urgency:  |No                     |Fiscal:      |Yes             |
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          |Consultant|Randy Chinn                                           |
          |:         |                                                      |
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          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

          

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