BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2192
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2192 (Miller) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:13-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires individuals whose home addresses are
afforded a higher degree of confidentiality by DMV to provide
DMV with a current employment address for purposes of
collecting traffic, parking, or toll evasion fines.
Currently, DMV records only show the employer's name.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Suspends the applicable statutory time periods for processing
the collection of traffic, parking, or toll road violations
until DMV provides the law enforcement agency, governmental
agency, or issuing agency with the person's current employment
address.
2)Provides that the use of a person's current employment
address, when that person's home address is confidential,
satisfies the requirement of the person's home address for
purposes of serving a notice to appear or a notice of
violation.
3)Requires a person who has requested the confidentiality of his
or her home address to notify DMV of any change in his or her
employment address within 10 days.
4)Requires DMV to refuse to renew the registration of a vehicle
if the person receiving the enhanced confidentiality has been
mailed a notice of delinquent parking violation or failure to
pay a traffic citation and the processing agency has filed or
electronically transmitted to DMV an itemization of the unpaid
parking or traffic citation penalty.
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5)Requires DVM to update the form to request confidentiality of
the person's home address to include the requirement that the
person requesting confidentiality provide a current employment
address, and make available copies of the updated form to the
human resources office of each agency that employs any of
professions eligible for enhanced confidentiality.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Substantial up-front costs (likely exceeding $1 million) to
DMV to contact 1.5 million individuals in the enhanced
confidentiality program, acquire their employer's address, and
revise their records (special fund).
2)Unknown, potentially significant savings to DMV in future
years resulting from fewer phone inquiries related to unpaid
toll and parking violations.
3)Potential revenue, in the range of hundreds of thousands of
dollars annually, to local agencies to the extent the measure
results in improved collections of penalties from parking and
toll violations.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . An investigation by the Orange County Register in
2008 revealed thousands of unpaid violations and tolls accrued
by peace officers and other individuals whose DMV records were
afforded enhanced confidentiality. These unpaid tolls and
fines cost agencies in Orange County over $5 million over the
prior five years. Parking and toll agencies throughout the
state, including those in San Diego and San Francisco, have
experienced similar abuses.
When parking agencies or toll road operators (who are not
provided access to home addresses of those having the enhanced
confidentiality status) attempt to collect fines from such
individuals, DMV is precluded from providing the information,
and the agencies must then seek information through a request
from the individuals' employers. Given these hurdles and
statutes of limitations associated with parking fines and toll
violations, local agencies have been precluded from collecting
fines and tolls owed by these officials.
According to the author, the bill is intended to close this
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loophole. It would allow toll facilities and parking agencies
to avoid large revenue losses and would relieve DMV of the
burden of having to respond to thousands of requests from
these agencies for delinquent vehicle owners' mailing
addresses.
2)Background . Until 1989, DMV records were generally considered
public records and any person who had a legitimate reason to
seek a home address of a particular person in the DMV files
could obtain it simply by producing the relevant driver's
license number or a license plate number. In 1986, legislation
was enacted creating a list of public officials whose home
addresses were to be kept confidential by the DMV. Under this
legislation, the home addresses of peace officers and others
on the statutory list may only be disclosed to a court, a law
enforcement agency, the BOE, or any governmental agency
legally required to be furnished that information. As a matter
of practice, DMV records for these individuals only show the
individual's employer's name (and no address). Home addresses
may be retrieved only through a time consuming manual process.
Over the years, the number of groups covered by the enhanced
confidentiality statutes has increased, to the point where
about 1.5 million persons are currently covered.
In response to a stalking and murder case, the Legislature
passed AB 1779 (Roos), Chapter 1213, Statutes of 1989, which
made confidential the home addresses of all individuals with
records at the DMV. The level of confidentiality is similar to
that enjoyed by public officials protected by the 1986
legislation, except that disclosures may also be made, in
limited circumstances, to financial institutions, insurance
companies, attorneys, vehicle manufacturers, and persons doing
statistical research.
Similar legislation
a) AB 2097 (Miller), 2010, would have required persons
receiving enhanced confidentiality of DMV records to
provide a current employment address to DMV and made other
changes to improve collections of traffic violations. The
bill was held in Senate Appropriations.
b) AB 3 (Miller), 2011, would have required DMV to provide
notice of outstanding toll evasion violations to
individuals who have requested a confidential home address.
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The bill was held in this committee.
3)Related Legislation.
a) AB 996 (Spitzer), 2008, would have allowed toll and
parking enforcement agencies access to DMV records of those
covered by the special confidentiality statutes but was
vetoed by the governor.
b) AB 592 (Lowenthal), 2009, would have added Board of
Equalization investigators to the list of peace officers
and other public officials who may request the DMV to
provide enhanced confidentiality to their home addresses.
The bill was held by this committee.
c) AB 923 (Swanson), 2009, would have added BOE members,
zoo veterinarians, employees of certain animal control
shelters, and code enforcement officers, to the list of
peace officers and other public officials who may request
the DMV to provide enhanced confidentiality to their home
addresses. The bill was held by this committee.
d) AB 2366 (Eng) would add nonsworn sheriff's security
officers to the list of professions whose records are
provided enhanced confidentiality by DMV. The bill is
pending action before this committee.
1)There is no support or opposition formally registered to this
bill
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081