BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1291
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Date of Hearing: April 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 1291 (Davis) - As Amended: March 24, 2011
SUBJECT : Department of Motor Vehicles: technology
SUMMARY : Allows the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to use
technological innovations to achieve cost savings.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows DMV to pursue the use and development of existing or
emerging technologies for the purpose of maximizing the
efficient delivery of vehicle registration services and
achieving cost savings for business partners, service
providers, or other customer groups as determined by DMV.
2)Defines "existing and emerging technologies" to include
technologies that are in development or commercially available
for administrative, on-road, or vehicle applications that
improve or create efficiencies in departmental administrative
processes.
3)Requires technological applications that impact traffic safety
or law enforcement procedures to be developed and evaluated in
conjunction with the California Highway Patrol.
4)Requires DMV to follow the procurement procedures adopted by
the Department of General Services as set forth in the State
Contracting Manual for such contracts.
5)Requires DMV's annual report to the Legislature to include
descriptions of technology solutions in use or under
development, the amount of any funds expended by the DMV, and
the outcome of any evaluation or implementation conducted for
these purposes.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Requires DMV to issue to each motor vehicle, upon initial
registration, two reflectorized license plates or devices to
identify the vehicle.
2)Requires the rear license plate of a registered vehicle to
display tabs indicating the month and year that the
registration expires.
3)Allows DMV, in order to improve the quality of its products,
to establish contracts for electronic programs that allow
qualified private industry partners to join DMV in providing
services that include processing and payment programs for
vehicle registration and titling transactions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill is a follow-up to last year's SB 1453
(Price), a bill that would have allowed DMV to consider the use
of emerging technologies for the creation of a
revenue-generating digital electronic license plate. A revenue
stream would presumably have been created by the use of those
plates, under certain circumstances, to post commercial or other
non-registration-related messages. Although SB 1453 was
controversial and even the subject of some derision, it passed
both the Senate floor and the Assembly Transportation Committee
unanimously before dying on Suspense in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
This year's bill is substantially more modest. It simply allows
DMV to pursue the use and development of existing or emerging
technologies for the delivery of vehicle registration services.
Registration renewal currently involves two mailings - one for
renewal notices and one for the delivery of license plate
stickers - that could conceivably be avoided through the use of
electronic media. If such an operation were successfully
implemented, DMV's cost saving could be significant.
Arguably, DMV already has the authority to do this. The
proponents believe, however, that direction from the Legislature
will provide the impetus for DMV to undertake an activity that
it might be reluctant to do without explicit legislative
authorization.
As stated by the author, "Often, state agencies seek
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'off-the-shelf' products to meet various needs. With technology
projects, the product specifications may not precisely meet the
needs of a state agency. This bill will allow the DMV to work
collaboratively with private sector technology partners to
create product specifications that directly apply to the
Department's efforts to reduce costs. In the current economic
climate, this bill presents a methodology for the DMV to
participate in technology product development while minimizing
or eliminating any state expenditure until the Department is
assured the technology functions as conceived."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Smart Plate Mobil
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093