BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 610
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 610 (Solorio) - As Amended: April 6, 2011
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill lowers, from 7,500 to 2,500, the number of applicants
for a specialized license plate the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) must receive from a sponsoring state agency before DMV may
establish a specialized licensed plate program, the proceeds of
which, in excess of DMV administrative costs, go to the
sponsoring state agency.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)According to DMV, one-time costs of approximately $400,000 to
make programming and programmatic changes. (Motor Vehicle
Account (MVA).)
2)Minor cost to DMV of less than $50,000 to monitor the amount
of funds available for each specialized license plate program,
track the number of outstanding and valid specialized plates
for each specialized license plate program, and notify the
sponsoring agency when that number drops below 2,500. (MVA).
3)Annual revenue to DMV, upon appropriation, of an unknown
amount but likely equal to DMV's start up and ongoing costs to
administer specialized license plate programs.
4)Potential costs of unknown but presumably negligible amounts
to state agencies seeking to establish specialized license
plate programs. (Various fund sources.)
5) Potential revenue, likely in excess of costs, to state
agencies that successfully establish specialized license plate
programs. (Various fund sources.)
AB 610
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COMMENTS
1)Rationale. Proponents decry the lack of establishment of
specialized license plate programs in recent years. Some
proponents describe as extreme the existing threshold for
establishing a specialized license plate program of 7,500
applicants. These proponents contend lowering the threshold
to 2,500 will allow establishment of more specialized license
plate programs. Proponents describe such programs as
desirable because they can provide state agencies with
additional funds provided by voluntary fee payers.
2)Background - State Agency Sponsored License Plates . Existing
law allows any state agency to apply to DMV to sponsor a
specialized license plate program. Prior to 2007, any new
special-interest license plate required specific legislative
authorization. This practice was held to be unconstitutional
because the Legislature approved some of the plates and
rejected others, using no standard or objective criteria for
those decisions. AB 84 (Leslie), Chapter 91, Statutes of 2006,
established an administrative process within DMV for issuing
specialized license plates when they are sponsored by a state
agency, the plate's message and the revenues it generates
support that agency's programs, and DMV has received at least
7,500 paid applications for the specialized plates. The
7,500-application threshold was put in place to ensure that
DMV's startup costs would be fully covered by the portion of
the registration fee surcharge that is directed to the
department.
3)Sponsoring Agencies Receive Net Revenue from License Plate
Programs, But Not DMV. A state agency may choose to sponsor a
specialized license plate program in hopes of using proceeds
from the more-expensive-than-normal fees paid by program
participants to fund activities undertaken by that agency. In
this way, a sponsoring state agency may benefit financially
from a specialized license plate program. DMV, however, does
not.
Bill supporters and the author contend this bill, in addition
to its other benefits, will bring revenue to the DMV.
However, DMV will retain revenue generated by the specialized
license plate programs resulting from this bill to cover only
the costs it incurs to administer the specialized license
AB 610
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plate programs resulting from this bill. Therefore, the
desire for increased revenue to DMV is not a legitimate
justification for this bill, whatever its other merits.
4)Support. This bill is supported mainly, though not
exclusively, by private organizations that advocate for the
humane treatment of animals.
5)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081