BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1295
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Date of Hearing: June 14, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 1295 (Dutton) - As Amended: April 19, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 30-0
SUBJECT : Special license plates
SUMMARY : Establishes procedures for the retention of a special
license plate upon the death of the person to whom it was
issued. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that when the holder of an Army Medal of Honor, Navy
Medal of Honor, Air Force Medal of Honor, Army Distinguished
Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, or Purple Heart
license plate dies and there is no surviving spouse, another
surviving member of the deceased medal recipient's family may
retain one of the special license plates as a family heirloom.
2)Grants that same privilege for family members upon the death
of a surviving spouse who has held such a license plate.
3)Provides that license plates held as heirlooms are not valid
for use for vehicle registration purposes.
4)Defines, for the purposes of these provisions, "family" to
mean grandparents, stepgrandparents, parents, stepparents,
siblings, stepsiblings, children, and stepchildren of the
person originally issued the special license plates.
EXISTING LAW : Allows the surviving spouse of the holder of an
Army Medal of Honor, Navy Medal of Honor, Air Force Medal of
Honor, Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, or Air
Force Cross license plate to continue to use that plate but
requires the plate to be returned to the Department of Motor
Vehicles within 60 days of that person's death or the expiration
of the registration, whichever comes first.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill was withdrawn from the
Senate Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
COMMENTS : The author introduced this bill to extend to Legion
SB 1295
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of Valor, Medal of Honor, Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy
Cross, Air Force Cross and Purple Heart veterans a privilege
that is already to Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and
former Prisoners of War. Rather than requiring the state to
dispose of these special commemorative license plates, a
veteran's family members would be allowed keep one of them as a
family heirloom to honor the veteran's distinguished service.
Related legislation : SB 88 (DeSaulnier) would extend similar
privileges to the family members of deceased firefighters who
held California Firefighter license plates. SB 88 is scheduled
to be heard in this committee today.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Legion, Department of California
California Chapter of the Legion of Valor
California State Sheriffs' Association
Department of California Military Order of the Purple Heart
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093