BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2499
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2499 (Portantino) - As Amended: March 25, 2010
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:12-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill brings home-study traffic violator schools under the
purview of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and makes
numerous other changes related to traffic violator schools
(TVSs).
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Moderate one-time costs, probably in the range of $200,000,
for DMV to develop new rules, regulations, and licensing
requirements for the each segment of the TVS industry (motor
vehicle account).
2)Unknown ongoing costs to DMV, ranging from the low hundreds of
thousands to several million dollars annually (motor vehicle
account), depending on how the bill is implemented, for
example, how the monitoring of TVS programs is divided between
DMV and court assistance programs. In all cases, the costs are
fully covered by revenue generated by either regulatory fees
imposed by the department on TVS's or by penalties assessed by
courts on traffic violators.
COMMENTS
Key provisions of the bill:
1)Provide that completion of a TVS program shall result in a
designation of the driver's conviction as confidential, rather
than having the complaint dismissed. In such a circumstance,
no point count is to be assessed against the driver's record.
AB 2499
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2)Remove the confidentiality of the conviction if the convicted
person holds a commercial driver's license, the violation
occurred in a commercial vehicle, or the violation results in
more than one point against the driver's record.
3)Prohibit a court from ordering or permitting a person who
holds a class A, class B, or commercial class C driver's
license to complete a licensed TVS course in lieu of
adjudicating any traffic offense.
4)Require DMV to establish standards for each TVS instructional
modality.
5)Increase to $15,000 the amount of the bond that each TVS is
required to file with DMV.
6)Require a TVS lesson plan to include a post-lesson knowledge
test and requires the lesson plan for each instructional
modality to obtain approval by DMV.
7)Establish various licensing and related requirements for TVS's
8)Repeal requirements for DMV to publish a referral list of all
the approved locations of TVS classes and instead requires DMV
to provide a list of licensed TVSs on its Internet website.
For each licensed school, the list is required to indicate the
modalities of instruction offered and specify the cities where
classroom instruction is offered. The sequential listing of
licensed schools would be randomized daily.
9)Require DMV to develop a web-based database accessible by the
courts and TVSs to allow oversight of TVS student enrollments
and course completions.
10)Require (or in some cases permit) courts and DMV to charge
various fees to TVS operators and traffic violators to defray
the costs of the program.
11) Repeal provisions of existing law governing the monitoring
of TVSs by court assistance programs (CAPs), but allows courts
to charge traffic violators a fee to defray the costs incurred
by a CAP for monitoring and traffic administration services
provided to the courts.
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12)Allow courts to enter into contracts with public or private
nonprofit agencies to provide services to the court, provided
those services do not duplicate those conducted by DMV.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Under existing law, motorists cited for certain
traffic violations may, at the option of the court, be ordered
to attend TVS as part of their sentence or be offered to have
the charges dismissed in consideration for attending TVS.
There are reportedly 400 licensed TVSs and unlicensed 200 home
study schools currently operating in the state. It is
estimated that about one million persons, or one fourth of all
minor traffic offenders, take a TVS class annually. The TVS
option assists the operation of the courts by significantly
reducing the volume of potential court cases.
DMV licenses all classroom TVSs, plus their owner-operators,
and instructors. In addition, DMV establishes course
curricula, provides completion certificates, conducts
monitoring activities, and performs other related
responsibilities.
Home study courses are approved by individual courts on a
court-by-court basis. Consequently, for these courses, there
are no consistent standards for curriculum content, duration
of course, or verification of the identity of the student.
2)Purpose . This bill is an attempt to apply consistent and
uniform standards to all segments of the TVS industry, and
restrict circumstances under which traffic offenders may
attend traffic school in lieu of adjudication. The bill
implements most of the recommendations made by DMV in response
to a mandate that it recommend a comprehensive plan for
licensing all TVS instructional programs.
1)Legislative history . This bill is the latest in a long series
of attempts to bring all segments of the TVS industry under
the direction of DMV. The issue of providing a uniform set of
standards for traffic school operations has pitted the
classroom segment of the industry against the home study
segment of the industry, with previous bills often providing
advantages to one segment or the other.
AB 2499
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In 2007, AB 758 (Plescia and Portantino) Chapter 396, Statutes
of 2007, originally required DMV to license home study TVSs,
but when consensus could not be achieved on a means of
accomplishing that goal, the bill was amended to require DMV
to recommend to the Legislature a comprehensive plan for
licensing all TVS instructional programs. This bill
implements most of the DMV recommendations made in response to
AB 758.
2)Opposition. While receiving support from the courts and home
study segment of the industry, this bill is opposed by the
classroom segment of the TVS industry. The opponents claim
that DMV does not have the capacity to take on the additional
regulatory responsibilities. They also object to the provision
deleting the current-law requirement that DMV provide
hard-copies of lists of TVS and instead allow the department
to include the list on their website.
Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081