BILL ANALYSIS
AB 647
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 647 (Yamada)
As Amended July 9, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 14, 2009) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 27, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding
the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS);
requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), by January 1,
2010, to be in full compliance with the federal Anti Car Theft
Act of 1992 (Act) (to the extent practicable) and to, by the
same date, eliminate any restrictions to consumer access to
titling, branding, and theft information provided by DMV to
NMVTIS.
The Senate amendments :
1)Make legislative findings and declarations regarding the
current status of DMV's efforts to implement NMVTIS.
2)Direct DMV to be in full compliance, by January 1, 2010, with
the federal Act governing NMVTIS, to the extent practicable.
3)Direct DMV to eliminate restrictions to consumer access to
titling, branding, and theft information that it provides to
NMVTIS, by January 1, 2010.
EXISTING LAW : Requires DMV to furnish, upon the request of the
legal owner of a vehicle, information regarding the current
registration status of the vehicle, including the license plate
number and address of the registered owner of the vehicle.
Existing law grants DMV the authority to charge a fee to pay for
the cost of furnishing this information.
Existing federal law requires the United States Attorney General
to establish NMVTIS to provide individuals and entities, as
prescribed, with instant and reliable access to specific
information maintained by states related to vehicle titling.
Individuals and entities allowed to access this information
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include:
4)States that are participating in NMVTIS;
5)Law enforcement;
6)Prospective automobile purchasers; and,
7)Prospective or current insurers.
The federal act requires that NMVTIS be paid for by user fees
and declares that the system should be self-sufficient and not
dependent on the United States government for financial support.
States are required to make information available for use in
operating NMVTIS. States are also required to provide
prospective automobile purchasers with instant and reliable
access to information in NMVTIS.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed in the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : The Senate Appropriations Committee passed this
bill, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. The Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis identified no new costs to DMV, as the intent
of this bill is consistent with just released federal
regulations and departmental policies.
COMMENTS : In 1992, the federal Act directed the U.S. Department
of Transportation to establish a national information system
enabling states and others to access automobile titling
information. In 1996, the Act was reauthorized, transferring
the responsibility for this system to the U.S. Department of
Justice (DOJ), under authority of the United State Attorney
General. The federal act allows the use of a third party to
operate NMVTIS and DOJ has contracted with the American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) for that
purpose.
Although the Act was enacted nearly 20 years ago, DOJ just now
issued final rules governing implementation of NMVTIS by states.
In this final rulemaking, issued January 30, 2009, DOJ stated:
"Although DOJ has worked closely with the system operator to
reduce the need for state system modifications, and although the
requirements of the Act have been in place since 1992, DOJ
understands that it will take time for states to implement some
provisions of the regulation. To provide relief in this regard,
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DOJ has elected to extend the compliance date for states not yet
participating to January 1, 2010."
At the state level, DMV entered into a contract, in April 2008,
with a third-party provider, R.L. Polk & Company (Polk), to
translate and consolidate data maintained by California to the
format required by AAMVA and then provide that data to NMVTIS.
The contract contained a clause that limits the release of
titling information maintained by California and translated by
Polk to law enforcement and governmental entities. The
contract, however, restricts release of information supplied by
Polk to consumers. DMV has stipulated that it has no objection,
in theory, to removing restrictions to access. Rather, it
contends that it entered into its contract with Polk prior to
final regulations being promulgated by DOJ and, as a result, is
bound by the terms of that contract, rather than the subsequent
regulations.
This bill's sponsor, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
(CARS), along with Consumer Action ion San Francisco, joined
Public Citizen in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California to compel DMV to remove
restrictions to accessing titling information, despite DMV's
contract with Polk that prohibits such access.
According to court records, DMV believes that it is not
technologically able to provide titling data directly to AAMVA
in a format usable by NMVTIS (which is why it entered into a
contract with Polk). If DOJ directs AAMVA to release
California-supplied data that is currently in NMVTIS, California
believes that Polk will terminate the data provision contract.
As a result, a new vendor would have to be secured to provide
the service. The process of contracting with a new vendor could
take seven months and cost many hundreds of thousands of
dollars. In the meantime, data contained in NMVTIS would grow
stale and useless to consumers, law enforcement, and other
states.
DMV has been actively pursuing contract amendments with Polk to
provide consumer access to NMVTIS data. To date, no agreement
has been reached. Parties to the lawsuit have stipulated that a
court-ordered grace period be extended so that California can
continue to pursue its negotiations with Polk and work toward a
November 30, 2009, deadline to remove the consumer access
restrictions in the contract.
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Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0002276