BILL ANALYSIS
AB 873
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
AB 873 (Price) - As Amended: March 26, 2009
SUBJECT : Vehicles: duplicate or substitute certificate of
title or license plate.
SUMMARY : Reenacts provisions that were allowed to sunset that
allow licensed registration services to apply for duplicate
certificates of ownership or duplicate license plates.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a licensed registration service to submit an
application for a duplicate certificate of title, a substitute
certificate of title or a replacement license plate on behalf
of their client as follows:
a) A dealer or an agent of the dealer, a dismantler, an
insurer or agent of an insurer, and a salvage pool;
b) A recognized business entity;
c) A court-appointed bankruptcy referee; or,
d) A person who is an individual that presents an
application with a signature that is validated by a notary
public, as specified.
2)Requires registration services to maintain full and complete
records of transactions and to make those records available
for inspection by law enforcement agencies for the purpose of
a stolen vehicle investigation.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from issuing
a copy, duplication, or substitution of a certificate of
ownership or license plate for a vehicle if, after a search of
the records of DMV, the registered owner's address, as
submitted with the application for that document, is different
from that which appears in the DMV records, unless the
registered owner applies for that document in person and
presents certain verifying documents.
AB 873
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2)Provides that this prohibition does not apply if the
registered owner's name, address, and driver's license or
identification card number submitted on the application match
the name, address, and driver's license or identification card
number contained in DMV records, or if an application for a
duplicate or substitute certificate of title or license plate
is submitted by or through a legal owner, a dealer, a
dismantler, an insurer, and agent of the insurer, or a salvage
pool.
3)Defines a "licensed registration service" as a person engaged
in the business of soliciting or receiving any application for
the registration, renewal, or transfer of registration or
ownership of any vehicle of a type subject to registration, or
of transmitting or presenting any of those documents DMV when
any compensation is solicited or received for the service.
4)Requires DMV to process requests for duplicate certificates of
ownership within 72 hours, if the applicant pays an additional
$15 fee, in addition to any other fees that may exist.
5)Requires that a $25,000 bond be filed for the issuance or
renewal of a vehicle registration service license.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The provisions in this bill were contained in AB 2606
(Plescia), Chapter 430, Statutes of 2004, which included a
sunset date of January 1, 2008. Since provisions were allowed
to expire and not renewed, this bill seeks to reenact previous
law prior to 2008.
According to the Coalition of Vehicle Registration Services, the
sponsor of this bill, previous law proved successful over the
three-year period in which it was in place.
Prior to the establishment of law that granted licensed
registration services the same privilege to submit duplicate
title or replacement license plate transactions, there was
hesitancy on the part of DMV to allow such entities to be given
that access. In a previous analysis of AB 2606 (Plescia),
Chapter 430, Statutes of 2004, the DMV stated that "as an
industry, registration services have not demonstrated that they
should be allowed access to procedures not available to the
AB 873
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general public." The DMV pointed out that it had revoked the
licenses of 28 registration services for serious offenses and
had suspended or placed on probation the licenses of another 21
services over a three year period.
Eventually, provisions were included in the previous bill
(before repeal) that required an individual who is not a
court-appointed bankruptcy referee or recognized business entity
utilizing a registration service, to submit his or her
application with a notarized signature. In addition,
registration services were required to maintain all paperwork
and making it available to law enforcement for purposes of a
stolen vehicle investigation.
The sponsor adds that many of the concerns that were raised
during deliberation of the previous bill were address through
safeguards. DMV reports that many of the fraud concerns that
were previously raised did not materialize over the three year
period in which previous law was in place.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Coalition of Vehicle Registration Services (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Alejandro Esparza / TRANS. / (916)
319-2093