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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