BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1986
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: linder
VERSION: 4/21/14
Analysis by: Erin Riches FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 24, 2014
SUBJECT:
Traffic violator school (TVS) program
DESCRIPTION:
This bill changes the date by which the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) is required to submit its annual TVS report to
the Legislature and makes a technical correction related to the
TVS list maintained by DMV.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law defines a TVS as a business that, for compensation,
provides traffic safety instruction for individuals who are
referred by a court or who choose, if allowed, to attend.
Existing law authorizes a court to order or allow certain
traffic violators to attend a TVS.
Existing law requires DMV to provide a list of licensed TVSs on
its website. For each licensed school, the list must indicate
the modalities of instruction offered (e.g., classroom-based,
home-based, and Internet-based), and specify the cities where
classroom instruction is offered. The sequential listing of
licensed schools shall be randomized daily.
Existing law requires a court or traffic assistance program,
when providing a hard copy list of licensed TVSs to a traffic
violator, to provide only a current date-stamped list downloaded
from DMV's website. The hard copy list shall be as current as
practicable, but not more than 60 days old.
Existing law requires DMV to develop a web-based database to
enable DMV, the courts, and TVSs to monitor, report, and track
participation and course completion. TVSs shall update course
information within three business days of class completion and
provide class completion information to the courts on a daily
basis.
AB 1986 (LINDER) Page 2
Existing law requires DMV to report annually to the Legislature,
by December 31 of each year, the following information related
to implementation of AB 2499 of 2010 (see Background below):
The number and type of TVS programs DMV has licensed
The average number of days required to process each licensing
application
The performance measures DMV has established for monitoring
activities, including those DMV has contracted out to third
parties
Details relating to costs to show how fees were spent
A breakdown of all complaints DMV has received and how DMV
disposed of or resolved them
This bill:
Changes the date by which DMV is required to submit the TVS
report to the Legislature from December 31 of each year to
December 15 of each year
Makes a technical correction to existing law relating to the
TVS list maintained by DMV
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author states that moving the TVS report date to
earlier in December will provide more time for the Legislature
to review any recommendations in the report before the start
of the new legislative session. The author notes that this
bill additionally corrects an error inadvertently caused by
legislation passed last year (see Background below).
2.Background . According to the DMV's 2013 TVS report to the
Legislature, at the end of fiscal year 2012-13 there were 537
licensed businesses offering TVS services, including 292
classroom courses, 129 home study courses, and 283 Internet
courses. A school may offer one or more modality options once
the curriculum for each modality has been approved by DMV.
AB 2499 (Portantino), Chapter 599, Statutes of 2010, enacted a
regulatory scheme to help provide consistency among TVSs.
Among other things, this bill established DMV oversight over
all types of TVSs (e.g., classroom-based, home-based, and
Internet-based); required DMV to develop a web-based database,
accessible to the courts and TVSs, to monitor, report, and
AB 1986 (LINDER) Page 3
track participation and course completion; and required DMV to
provide on its website a randomized list of all TVSs. It also
required DMV to report annually to the Legislature on the
status and progress of AB 2499 implementation. AB 2499 took
effect on September 1, 2011.
Subsequently, AB 383 (Wagner), Chapter 76, Statutes of 2013,
an annual "maintenance of the codes" bill, made numerous
non-substantive changes in various provisions of law to
implement recommendations made by Legislative Counsel. Among
other things, AB 383 aimed to delete an obsolete, permanently
inoperative version of the Vehicle Code relating to the TVS
list maintained by DMV. Instead, however, AB 383 erroneously
deleted only the sunset clause, causing the provision to again
become operative. As a result, two incompatible versions of
the same section in the Vehicle Code now exist. This bill
deletes the entire obsolete section.
3.Author's intent . While this bill makes minimal changes to the
law relating to TVSs, the author states that he does not
intent to amend this bill significantly again during this
session.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 73-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 14-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Monday,
June 23, 2014.)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.
AB 1986 (LINDER) Page 4