BILL NUMBER: AB 610 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Solorio (Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfieldand Gatto, Gatto, and Jeffries ) FEBRUARY 16, 2011 An act to add Section 5156.5 to the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 610, as amended, Solorio. Vehicles: specialized license plates: donations. Under existing law, the Department of Motor Vehicles issues environmental and other specialized license plates. The issuance of some of those license plates is subject to additional fees. Existing law prohibits the department from establishing a specialized license plate program for a state agency until the department has received not less than 7,500 applications for the plates. This bill would authorize a state agency, board, or commission, as defined, to sponsor a specialized license plate program if certain conditions are met. The bill would only require that 2,500 paid applications be collected and held by the sponsoring agency and that a sufficient amount of additional funds be received from donations to cover the department's startup costs for the manufacture of the specialized license plate . The bill would require the sponsoring agency to actively request and receive donations from public and private entities that would be deposited into the Specialized License Plate Fund and, upon determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the specialized license plate program and, as to any remaining moneys, for allocation to the sponsoring agency. The bill would require the department to provide to the sponsoring state agency, board, or commission a cost estimate of its actual costs to initiate the specialized plate program. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 5156.5 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read: 5156.5. (a) (1) A state agency, board, or commission may apply to the department to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the department shall issue specialized license plates for that program, if the agency complies with all of the requirements of this section. The specialized license plate shall be of a size, color, and configuration that meets the design criteria as set forth in Section 5155. As used in this section, "agency" includes a state agency, board, or commission. (2) The department shall not issue specialized license plates to an agency for a vehicle that is exempt from the payment of registration fees pursuant to Section 9101 or 9103. (b) An agency may sponsor a specialized license plate program and the department may establish the program in the absence of 7,500 paid applications, as would be required under subdivision (a) of Section 5156 or Section 5157, if all of the following conditions are met: (1) The department shall not establish a specialized license plate program for an agency until the department has received not less than 2,500 paid applications for that agency's specialized license plates and a sufficient amount of additional funds from donations to cover the department's startup costs for the manufacture of the specialized license plate . The agency shall collect and hold applications for the plates. Once the agency has received at least 2,500 paid applications, it shall submit the applications, along with the necessary fees, to the department. The department shall not issue a specialized license plate until the agency has received and submitted to the department not less than 2,500 applications for the particular specialized license plate within the time period prescribed in this section. Advance payment to the department by the agency representing the department's estimated or actual administrative costs associated with the issuance of a particular specialized license plate shall not constitute compliance with this requirement. The agency shall have 12 months, following the date of approval of the agency's initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program, to receive the required number of applications. If, after 12 months, 2,500 applications have not been received, the agency shall immediately do either of the following: (A) Refund to all applicants all fees or deposits that have been collected. (B) Contact the department to indicate the agency's intent to undertake collection of additional applications and fees or deposits for an additional period, not to exceed 12 months, in order to obtain the minimum 2,500 applications. If the agency elects to exercise the option under this subparagraph, it shall contact each applicant who has submitted an application with the appropriate fees or deposits to determine if the applicant wishes a refund of fees or deposits or requests the continuance of the holding of the application and fees or deposits until that time that the agency has received 2,500 applications. The agency shall refund the fees or deposits to an applicant so requesting. The agency shall not collect and hold applications for a period exceeding 24 months following the date of approval of the agency's initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program. (2) The agency actively requests and receives donations for the specialized license plate program, which may consist of donations from public and private entities for deposit into the Specialized License Plate Fund. Earnings generated from donations shall be retained for the specialized license plate program authorized by this section. (3) Upon determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the specialized license plate program. (c) (1) If the number of outstanding and valid specialized license plates in a particular program provided for in this section is less than 2,500, the department shall notify the sponsoring agency of that fact and shall inform the agency that if that number is less than 2,500 one year from the date of that notification, the department will no longer issue or replace those specialized license plates. (2) Those particular specialized license plates that were issued prior to the discontinuation provided by paragraph (1) may continue to be used and attached to the vehicle for which they were issued and may be renewed, retained, or transferred pursuant to this code. (d) In addition to the regular fees for an original registration or renewal of registration, the following additional fees shall be paid for the issuance, renewal, or transfer of the specialized license plates: (1) Fifty dollars ($50) for the original issuance of the plates. (2) Forty dollars ($40) for a renewal of registration with the plates. (3) Fifteen dollars ($15) for transfer of the plates to another vehicle. (4) Thirty-five dollars ($35) for each substitute replacement plate. (e) After deducting its administrative costs under this section, which moneys shall be available for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall deposit the additional revenue derived from the issuance, renewal, transfer, and substitution of the specialized license plates in the Specialized License Plate Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the moneys in that fund shall be allocated to each sponsoring agency, in proportion to the amount in the fund that is attributable to the agency's specialized license plate program. Except as authorized under Section 5159, the sponsoring agency shall expend all funds received under this section exclusively for projects and programs that promote the agency's official policy, mission, or work. (f) The department shall provide to the sponsoring state agency, board, or commission an estimate of its actual costs to initiate the specialized license plate program authorized under this section.