BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
286 (Salas)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: 06/23/2009
Consultant: Mark McKenzie Policy Vote: T&H 7-3
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 286 would extend the sunset from January 1,
2010 to January 1, 2018 on the authority for counties to impose
an annual vehicle registration fee that funds programs that
enhance the deterrence, investigation, and prosecution of
vehicle theft crimes.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
DMV and SCO administration all costs covered by fees
collected Local
Vehicle fee continuation revenue gain of $30,000
annually Local
from 1/1/10 through 1/1/18
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STAFF COMMENTS: Existing law, SB 2139 (Davis), Chapter 1670,
Statutes of 1990, authorizes counties to establish a separate
annual $1 vehicle registration surcharge to fund vehicle theft
programs, upon adoption of a resolution by the board of
supervisors. Owners of specified commercial vehicles pay an
additional $2. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) collects
these fees and the funds are continuously appropriated to the
State Controller (SCO) and distributed to participating counties
on a quarterly basis. All administrative costs are recovered
from fees collected. 47 counties have adopted this surcharge,
which generates approximately $30 million annually. Counties
that impose this fee are required to submit an annual report to
the SCO, summarizing revenues, expenditures, and activities and
statistics related to the vehicle theft programs. The authority
to collect this additional surcharge has been extended several
times, but is scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2010.
AB 286 would extend the sunset on the authority for counties to
impose the vehicle theft surcharge on all vehicles subject to
annual registration to January 1, 2018. This bill would also
require counties that impose the fee to include specific
information on expenditures in annual fiscal reports submitted
to the SCO. DMV and the SCO would continue to recover
administrative costs for collecting and distributing the fees.
Staff notes that AB 878 (Davis), introduced in 2007, would have
allowed counties to increase vehicle registration surcharges
that fund programs for abandoned vehicle abatement and vehicle
theft, prevention, investigation, and prosecution programs, and
would have extended the sunset on vehicle theft abatement fee
authority until January 1, 2013. AB 878 was vetoed by the
Governor, who objected to the absence of voter approval for the
fee increase. AB 860 (Salas), which is identical to this bill,
was introduced last year to simply extend the sunset on the
existing program, but not to increase the surcharge. Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 860 last year due to the historic delay
in the passage of the 2008-09 State Budget.