BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2289
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2289 (Jeffries) - As Amended: April 19, 2012
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill revises procedures and requirements for registering
specially constructed passenger vehicles and pickup trucks
(SCVs). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to establish,
maintain and make available on its website, a current listing
of the date and time the department received each application
for the registration of an SCV in the order the applications
were received and a tally of the requests received for that
calendar year.
2)Requires DMV to adopt regulations to secure the privacy of
applicants for SCV registration subject to the website listing
described above.
3)Requires DMV, when it receives an application for registration
of an SCV after it has registered 500 SCVs in that calendar
year, to consider that application, in the order it was
received, the following calendar year.
4)Requires DMV to hold for consideration in the subsequent year
a request for registration of an SCV if the SVC had been
previously registered according to a model year that differs
from the model year requested for the current registration
request and if DMV already had registered 500 SCVs during the
calendar year in which it receives the registration request.
Such SCVs are subject to the emissions control requirements
applicable to the model year assigned to the SCV in the SCV's
previous registration. (Current law requires DMV to deny such
a request.)
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5) Limits to one per calendar year the number of applications
for SCV registration per applicant.
FISCAL EFFECT
According to DMV, costs will be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author contends owners of SCVs find it
difficult to register their SCVs, in part, because the
administrative system in place to register SCVs is cumbersome
and opaque. The author seeks to ease SCV registration by
making the process friendlier to applicants and more
transparent.
2)Background. Specially constructed passenger vehicles and
pickup trucks are vehicles built for private use, and not for
resale, from a kit or from new or used parts, or some
combination of parts. Typically, SCVs are built to replicate,
in look and oftentimes mechanics, older vehicles. However,
because SCVs are not produced by a manufacturer, they do not
have a manufacturer model-year, as do most other vehicles.
California's vehicle emissions control program, known as Smog
Check, generally requires vehicles to obtain a smog inspection
certificate or certificate of non-compliance biennially, upon
change-of-ownership, or upon the registration of a vehicle
previously registered in another state. Exempt from this
requirement are vehicles 30 years and older.
Statute allows an SCV to be subject to emissions requirements,
following inspection by a Bureau of Automotive Repair referee,
applicable to the standards of the model-year the SCV
represents, rather than typically more-stringent emissions
standards applicable to vehicles with model years matching the
year in which the SCV was built.
Statute directs DMV to register each year no more than 500
SCVs with retro, BAR-assigned model years. In signing the
legislation that established the SCV alternative model-year
registration program (Chapter 871, Statutes of 2001), the
governor directed DMV to implement the bill within existing
resources. The resulting program is not automated and,
AB 2289
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according to some SCV owners, cumbersome. Upon receiving an
SCV application, the DMV field office contacts DMV
headquarters to learn if the 500-SCV registration limit has
been met. If so, DMV denies the application, consistent with
existing statute, and returns the application to the
applicant. Once the yearly allotment of 500 certificates is
issued, applicants must wait until the following year to
reapply. There is no limit to the number of SCV registration
applications an applicant can submit.
DMV reports that, in recent years, the 500-SVC annual cap has
not been met. Nonetheless, some SCV owners complain of
difficulties registering their SCVs. For example, the author
describes owners who have been told by DMV that all available
SVC annual registrations had been issued, only to learn later
that registration slots remain. DMV contends the bill
complicates administration of the program when, given the
number of applications received each year, a problem has not
been demonstrated.
3)Support . This bill is supported by the Association of
California Car Clubs and other automobile enthusiast
organizations and individuals.
4)There is no opposition formally registered to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081