BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1550|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1550
Author: Bonilla (D), et al.
Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/12/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley, Rubio,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/25/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-3, 4/12/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Veterans license plates
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill increases the fees required to issue,
renew, and personalize veterans license plates.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/6/12 direct the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) to discontinue the production of any
decal for veterans plates when a decal is no longer in
demand.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that, in order to
register a vehicle in California, the registered owner pay
CONTINUED
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a registration fee of $46, a $23 surcharge for additional
personnel for the California Highway Patrol, various
locally-imposed fees, and a vehicle license fee (VLF) equal
to 0.65% of a vehicle's value based on purchase price
depreciated according to a statutory schedule. A vehicle
owner may pay additional fees of $48 for issuance and $38
for renewal to personalize the characters on his or her
vehicle's license plates.
In addition, any registered owner of a vehicle may apply to
the DMV for veterans' organization license plates for his/
her vehicle. Veterans' organizations plates bear a
distinctive design that includes the words "honoring
veterans" along the bottom of the plate and includes a
decal on the left side of the plate for one of over 100
sponsoring veterans' organizations, such as the American
Legion, 101st Airborne Division, or the National Guard. In
addition to the above fees, for veterans' plates a vehicle
owner must pay:
$30 for the initial issuance of the plates and decals;
$40 to personalize the plates; and
$30 annually for each renewal that includes continued
display of the plates (whether personalized or not) and
decals.
After paying DMV's costs associated with veterans' plates,
revenues derived from these fees go to county veterans
service offices (CVSOs).
This bill:
1. Increases the fees for veterans' plates as follows:
$50 for issuance,
$78 for personalization, and
$40 for renewal.
2. Permits the Department of Veterans Affairs to create a
distinctive design of veterans' plates and the
associated decals to honor all veterans or veterans who
served in a particular war or armed conflict.
3. Permits any vehicle owner to apply to DMV for a
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veterans' plate with a decal that honors all veterans or
veterans who served in a particular war or armed
conflict.
4. Requires DMV, by July 1, 2013, to issue a distinctive
decal to any veteran for his/her veterans' plate that
recognizes his/her veteran status in, or honoring
veterans of, a particular war or armed conflict. In
lieu of such a decal, DMV must offer a "yellow
ribbon/support our troops decal" to veterans.
5. Requires DMV to eliminate from inventory any decal for
which it determines that demand is insufficient to
maintain that inventory in a cost-effective manner.
Comments
Funding of CVSOs . The author's office points out that the
state has an agreement with counties to pay 50% of CVSOs'
costs; that agreement is embodied in codified legislative
intent language in the Military and Veterans Code. When
that agreement was made, 50% equaled $5 million, but the
author's office notes that the state has not funded CVSOs
at this rate. In 2009, SB 419 (Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee), Chapter 183, updated the Military and Veterans
Code to express the intent of the Legislature to increase
the annual 50% amount that CVSOs are entitled to receive to
$11 million. Since passage of SB 419, CVSOs have received
only $2.6 million annually. In 2010, the veterans' plate
raised total revenue of $614,000.
Impact on sales . Existing law permits the Department of
Veterans Affairs to modify the distinctive designs of
veterans' plates and the associated decals but prohibits
DMV from issuing the new plates or decals until it has
issued all existing inventories of plates and decals. This
authority resulted in a new design of the plate becoming
available last year that changed the words along the bottom
of the plate from "veteran" to "honoring veterans" and thus
broadened the appeal of this license plate. In addition,
last May, DMV made the plate available on its Web site.
In less than one year, and likely as a result of these two
changes, the total number of veterans plates issued
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increased to 26,850 - an increase of 2,774. Those who
purchased the plate during this timeframe made this
decision to acquire the plate based on the extra fees in
current law. This bill increases those extra fees and
comes on top of the $12 increase in the basic vehicle
registration fee that the Legislature included in last
year's budget. Because of its fee increases, this bill
could decrease the growth in or even the total number of
veterans plates issued and renewed. If this drop is large,
it could result in a loss of total revenue from issuance
and renewal of the plates.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs of approximately $60,000 to the DMV to
make programming and administrative changes related to
the fee increase, and to update its Web site to reflect
the availability of additional veterans license plate
decals. All costs fully recovered from veterans license
plate fees.
Fee revenue gain of approximately $290,000 annually
(Veterans Service Office Fund) if all current holders of
veterans plates renew their registrations and pay the
increased renewal fee. Additional revenue impacts would
depend upon demand for issuance of new veterans plates
and the potential deterrent effect related to the higher
fees, both of which are indeterminable.
Unknown fee revenue gain related to the increase in fees
for the personalization of veterans plates, potentially
in the range of $50,000 annually (Veterans Service Office
Fund).
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/6/12)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
American Legion - Department of California
AMVETS - Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
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California Mental Health Directors Association
California State Commanders Veterans Council
Vietnam Veterans of America - California State Council
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author introduced this bill to
provide additional revenue from the veterans' plate to
CVSOs so that they can continue to provide and expand their
services to all veterans and their families. She notes
that the Legislature has not changed the fees for the
veterans' plate since 1992. By bringing these fees for the
veterans plate into line with DMV's other specialized
plates, she argues that this bill will augment the funding
the state provides to the counties for its share of CVSO
costs.
The author notes also that when legislation established the
veterans' plate, the state created over 100 different
decals, most for small military units or veterans'
organizations, but has not updated or added to the decals
since the end of the Vietnam War. This bill asks the
Department of Veterans Affairs to broaden the appeal of the
plate to veterans by creating decals for recent and ongoing
wars. New decals allow purchasers the ability to specify
the veterans they are honoring, which may result in higher
sales.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-3, 4/12/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Nestande, Nielsen,
Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Halderman, Knight, Morrell
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Cook, Fletcher, Garrick,
Mansoor, Wieckowski
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JJA:m 8/6/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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