BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1601 (Hill)
Hearing Date: 08/02/2010 Amended: As Proposed to be
Amended
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety
7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1601 would authorize the court to revoke a
person's license for 10 years after a third or subsequent DUI
and provides that, upon receipt of a duly certified abstract of
record showing the court has ordered a 10-year revocation of a
driver's license, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) shall
revoke the driver's license for 10 years. This bill specifies
conditions under which a license revoked by this procedure may
be reinstated. This bill provides that when a person is
sentenced to jail or prison for a DUI, the court shall postpone
the term of the license suspension or revocation until his/her
release from prison and shall notify DMV of the postponement.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Fund
DMV revocation procedure $200 $268
Special*
*Motor Vehicle Account
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. As Proposed to be Amended.
This bill would authorize the court to revoke driver's license
of a person who has three or more prior DUI convictions, and
requires specific court considerations in the decision. There is
no additional cost to granting the court the authority to impose
a 10 year revocation. The costs of this bill are incurred by the
implementation of enforcing a court-ordered revocation, as
specified by this bill. DMV will incur $468,000 in upfront costs
to update its computer system to be able to implement the
10-year revocation, to delay the suspension period for every
second-or-subsequent offense drunk driver who spends any time in
jail, as required by this bill. DMV has also expressed concern
that the department will not be able to update its computer
system by January 1, 2011, when this bill would go into effect,
and will have to devise a work-around process, in consultation
with the courts, to implement this bill absent a computerized
process until it can be updated (likely by January 2012).
Until that time, both the court and DMV will likely experience a
significant workload increase to set up a procedure and
implement it manually. The courts would likely have to submit
hard-copy abstracts of conviction, and then manually calculate
and input any delay period, based upon the length of sentence.
Additionally, DMV will have to establish a procedure for
allowing suspended drivers to show evidence that they were
released early, and manually recalculate the date of eligibility
for reinstatement.
The author's proposed amendments would delay implementation
until January 1, 2012, and delete provisions that delay license
suspensions until after incarceration.