BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 1453
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: price
VERSION: 4/14/10
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 20, 2010
SUBJECT:
Digital electronic license plates
DESCRIPTION:
This bill permits the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
investigate and develop a plan for the use of digital electronic
license plates in California, which would allow the plates to
function both as license plates and venues for advertising or
other messages.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law requires DMV to issue to each vehicle upon initial
registration two reflectorized license plates or devices to
identify the vehicle. Existing law prescribes the appearance of
these plates as follows:
Each plate must display the word "California" plus the
vehicle's registration number and the year for which its
registration is valid.
Plates, other than those for motorcycles, must be
rectangular in shape, 12 inches in length and six inches in
width.
Characters on the plate must be at least 2 inches high
and 1 inches high and have at least 5/16 inch of space
between them.
Existing law prohibits DMV from letting a contract to any
nongovernmental entity for purposes of manufacturing license
plates.
SB 1453 (PRICE) Page 2
This bill authorizes DMV to consider the use and development of
existing or emerging technologies for the creation of a digital
electronic license plate for the purpose of generating revenue
for DMV and the state. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "digital electronic license plate" as a license plate
that may be used secondarily as a mobile message display unit
and that complies with existing law above on the appearance of
license plates.
2)Authorizes DMV to issue requests for proposals, memoranda of
understanding, letters of intent, contracts with private
vendors, and other instruments it deems appropriate to
research, develop, acquire, explore the use of, and evaluate
digital electronic plates.
3)Requires DMV to submit to the Legislature an interim report by
January 1, 2012 and a final report by January 1, 2013 on its
investigation of the utilization of digital electronic license
plates. The final report shall include:
i) An explanation of how these plates could function as
both vehicle identifiers and mobile message display units
with details on what restrictions DMV could impose on the
messages displayed, the control that registered owners and
legal owners could exercise over messages displayed, and
options for the driver to change messages.
ii) Information on the traffic safety effects of using
these plates, which may be considered in consultation with
the California Highway Patrol (CHP) through onroad testing
of these plates as authorized by CHP.
iii) Estimates of the revenues that the plates could
generate and the cost savings in vehicle registration
practices available with digital electronic plates.
iv) Information on the security and reliability of
these plates.
v) Recommendations on the future use of these plates.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose . Digital electronic license plates look and function
like a computer screen that displays a facsimile of a license
SB 1453 (PRICE) Page 3
plate, but is capable of displaying other images. At least one
company, Smart Plate, is in the process of developing such a
plate but has yet to produce these plates for demonstration or
other purposes.
Smart Plate indicates it holds a patent on its digital
electronic license plate, which would take on the size and
appearance of a standard California license plate (i.e., a 12"
by 6" white, reflectorized rectangle with blue characters and
"California" in red across the top) when a vehicle is moving.
Once a vehicle comes to a stop for four seconds or longer,
such as at a stoplight or in a traffic jam, the image on the
plate would be replaced with a scrolling set of messages that
the driver selects from a menu of options, including
advertisements for private businesses, educational
institutions, or other organizations that would enter into
contracts with DMV to display their messages on these plates.
Vehicle owners could choose which messages to display based on
their preferences, affiliations, and perhaps rewards from
those businesses or organizations. In addition, a driver would
be able to control which messages actually display when he or
she is driving via a web-based control system. The plate would
access messages from a computing cloud or other wireless
network rather than an on-board or on-plate chip.
The author introduced this bill in order to allow DMV to work
with Smart Plate or other companies to investigate the
creation and use of this type of license plate and report to
the Legislature on that investigation.
2)First amendment issues . In a 2004 federal court decision,
Women's Resource Network v. Gourley, E.D. Cal 2004, F.Supp.2d,
2004 U.S. Dist., the court declared California's special
interest license plates unconstitutional because they violate
the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The court
specifically objected to the state "picking and choosing"
special license plates that private organizations propose, in
essence promoting the message of some organizations while
denying this right to others. It is likely, therefore, that
DMV would need to accept any non-obscene message from any
organization that wants to advertise or promote itself through
the plates this bill contemplates, should they ever enter
general use. The committee may wish to consider whether it is
appropriate to task DMV with investigating using the
California license plate as a forum for free speech.
SB 1453 (PRICE) Page 4
3)Only prison industries makes plates . The Vehicle Code
prohibits DMV from contracting with a nongovernmental entity
to manufacture license plates, and the Penal Code states that
state agencies must buy items the Prison Industry Authority
(PIA) manufactures, which includes license plates. Thus, DMV
must buy license plates from PIA This bill does not change
that.
4)Committee policy . This committee has long had a policy that
reads in part: "The Committee will not consider any measure
that would authorize the issuance of a special interest
license plate bearing unique graphics or insignia, or
identifying a particular group affiliation ? ." This bill
provides authority for DMV to investigate the use of digital
electronic plates. Because the bill does not authorize the
issuance of a license plate, it does not violate the
committee's policy.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 14, 2010)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.