BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1404|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1404
Author: Feuer (D), et al.
Amended: 8/9/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 6-2, 7/3/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley, Rubio,
Simitian
NOES: Gaines, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/6/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Vehicles: additional registration fee:
vehicle-theft crimes
SOURCE : Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Counties of Los
Angeles, San Diego, and San Bernardino to increase the fee
imposed upon registration of a vehicle to fund vehicle
theft programs from $1 to $2. Upon approval of the
increase that applies to all vehicles, the amount imposed
upon commercial vehicles would increase from $2 to $4.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes a basic vehicle
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registration fee of $46, plus a $23 surcharge for
additional personnel for the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) for the new or renewal registration of most vehicles.
Existing law also authorizes local agencies to impose
separate vehicle registration fee surcharges in their
respective jurisdictions for a variety of special programs,
including $1 for a program to deter, investigate, and
prosecute vehicle theft. A county board of supervisors
must adopt a resolution to impose this $1 surcharge on
every new or renewal vehicle registration, plus another $2
on commercial vehicles, within the county.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) collects the
surcharge and remits those fees, after deducting its own
administrative costs, to the State Controller. State law
continuously appropriates these funds, which the State
Controller disburses to each participating county based on
the number of registered vehicles within that county.
Each quarter a participating county must submit to CHP a
report on the expenditures and activity, and by August 31st
every year, each county must submit a report to the State
Controller that describes for the fiscal year that just
ended:
Total revenues received from the surcharge by the county;
Total expenditures by the county on eligible programs;
A summary of vehicle theft abatement activities and other
programs funded by the surcharge;
The total number of stolen vehicles recovered and their
value;
The total number of vehicles stolen and a comparison to
the preceding fiscal year; and
Any unexpended surcharge revenues received.
The Controller may suspend collection of the fee if the
local agency is not reporting as required in law or is not
expending funds as authorized. The Controller annually
reports to the Legislature on this program.
This bill:
1.Authorizes Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Bernardino
Counties to increase the vehicle theft surcharge imposed
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on all vehicles subject to annual registration in their
respective jurisdictions from $1 to $2, upon adoption of
a resolution by the county board of supervisors.
2.Increases the $2 surcharge that is currently imposed on
commercial vehicles from $2 to $4 upon approval of the
resolution that increases the surcharge for all vehicles.
3.Requires the county board of supervisors to submit the
resolution to DMV at least six months prior to the
operative date of the fee increase.
Background
SB 2139 (Davis), Chapter 1670, Statutes of 1990, authorized
counties to impose a $1 surcharge on vehicle registrations
to fund vehicle theft programs. Since then, the cost of
these programs has far outpaced the increased number of
registered vehicles on the road.
Forty-seven counties impose the surcharge, including Los
Angeles County, where, in 1993, the Board of Supervisors
imposed a $1 fee to create a vehicle theft program called
the Taskforce for Regional Auto-theft Prevention (TRAP).
TRAP is a multi-agency task force that investigates,
prosecutes, and deters vehicle theft and fraud on a
coordinated and cooperative basis. The author and sponsors
report that TRAP has been highly successful in combating
vehicle theft and fraud by focusing on organized vehicle
theft rings, "chop shops," international auto theft rings
that steal vehicles and ship them to other countries,
individuals who obtain vehicles by fraud, and other forms
of vehicle theft.
Los Angeles County reports that since 1993, TRAP has made
approximately 9,300 arrests, recovered over 23,000 vehicles
worth nearly $400 million, and prosecuted over 4,000 cases
of automobile theft. In recent years TRAP has had to
reduce the number of personnel assigned to the program due
to increases in operating, fuel, and equipment costs. The
sponsor states that these reductions have negatively
impacted TRAP's ability to effectively combat auto theft in
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Los Angeles County and notes that in 2004 TRAP employed 71
personnel to combat auto theft at a cost of $7.3 million.
This year, TRAP employed only 29 people at a cost of $7.2
million. As time goes on, in the not-so-distant future the
TRAP team will not have sufficient funding to do its job.
This bill would give Los Angeles County the authority to
double the funds it has for the TRAP program.
Proposition 26 . Proposition 26 requires that any "change
in statute which results in a taxpayer paying a higher tax
must be imposed by an act passed by not less than
two-thirds of all members elected to each of the two houses
of the Legislature." This bill does not result in a
taxpayer paying a higher tax but delegates to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors the authority to impose
a higher surcharge on vehicle registrations to fund a
specific government function. Ultimately, the Los Angeles
County Counsel would have to determine a vote threshold at
the county level. So while this bill is a majority vote
measure in the Legislature, the local action to increase
the registration surcharge may be a two-thirds vote of the
electorate in a county.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
All administrative costs to the Department of Motor
Vehicles and the State Controller's Office are fully
recovered from fee revenues collected.
Potential revenue gains of approximately $7.2 million for
Los Angeles County, $2.5 million for San Diego County,
and $1.6 million for San Bernardino County if increases
to vehicle surcharges are approved.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/12)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (source)
Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Burbank Police Department
Chula Vista Police Department
Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Association
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Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Police Chiefs Association
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Monrovia Police Department
Redlands Police Department
San Bernardino County Sheriff
San Bernardino District Attorney's Office
San Diego District Attorney's Office
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/9/12)
CalTax
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
JJA:n 8/9/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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