BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2321 (Gomez) - Specialized license plates: domestic violence
and sexual assault awareness.
Amended: April 24, 2014 Policy Vote: T&H 10-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2321 would require the Office of Emergency
Services (OES) to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to sponsor a domestic violence and sexual assault
awareness license plate program, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Estimated OES costs of $25,000 in 2014-15 for plate design,
and approximately $50,000 in 2015-16 for 1/2 PY of staff
time to collect the initial 7,500 applications and fees for
the establishment of the plate program (General Fund).
These costs could continue into 2016-17 if the requisite
applications and fees are not collected within the first
year and OES applies to DMV for a 12-month extension.
Assuming 7,500 pre-paid applications are collected by OES,
DMV would incur initial administrative costs of $135,000 to
process the applications, and an additional $440,000 in
programming and other implementation costs, likely in
2016-17 or 2017-18, partially offset by pre-paid application
fees of $375,000, leaving a net first-year cost of
approximately $200,000 (Motor Vehicle Account). These net
costs would be reimbursed in the following fiscal year by
registration renewal fees from holders of the domestic
violence and sexual assault awareness plates. All ongoing
costs thereafter would be fully offset by fees from renewals
and issuance of new plates.
Upon full implementation of the proposed plate program,
there would be ongoing revenues of approximately $300,000
annually available for OES's Family Violence Prevention
Program (based on 7,500 plate renewals). These revenues
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could be higher to the extent additional domestic violence
and sexual assault awareness plates are issued.
Background: Prior to 2007, any new special interest license
plate required specific legislative authorization. This
practice was held to be unconstitutional in that the Legislature
approved some of the plates, and rejected others, using no
standardized or objective criteria for those decisions. Current
law, as enacted by AB 84 (Leslie), Chap 454/2006, authorizes any
state agency to sponsor a special interest license plate, and
apply to DMV to establish a new license plate program after
collecting at least 7,500 applications and accompanying fees and
submitting them to DMV. The applications must be collected
within one year, with an option to extend that timeframe by an
additional year under specified conditions. The new specialized
license plate must have a design or contain a message that
publicizes or promotes a state agency, or the official policy,
mission, or work of the agency.
In addition to the regular fees for an original or renewal
registration, the following fees would be paid for the issuance,
renewal, or transfer of the specialized license plate: $50 for
original issuance; $40 for renewal; $15 for transfer to another
vehicle; and $35 for substitute replacement plates. Once a
specialized license plate program has been implemented, all
additional fee revenues associated with the plate, after
subtracting DMV administrative costs, would be deposited into
the Specialized License Plate Fund, and made available to the
sponsoring agency upon appropriation by the Legislature for
projects and programs that promote the agency's official policy,
mission, or work. A sponsoring agency may not spend more than
25 percent of its license plate fee revenues for administrative,
marketing, and promotional costs associated with the plate.
OES administers ten distinct programs through its Domestic
Violence Unit. The mission of the unit is to work with
governmental entities and local nonprofits to prevent, reduce,
and eradicate incidents of domestic violence. Among the ten
programs, the Family Violence Prevention Program is designed to
provide family violence prevention education and increase
general awareness of family violence prevention programs through
financial and technical assistance given to local domestic and
family violence centers.
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Proposed Law: AB 2321 would require OES to apply to DMV to
sponsor a domestic violence and sexual assault awareness license
plate program pursuant to the requirements of the specialized
license plate program in existing law. The bill would require
additional fees derived from the plate program to be deposited
into the California Domestic Violence Prevention Fund,
established by this bill. Revenues would be allocated to OES,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of funding
the Family Violence Prevention Program.
Related Legislation:
AB 1096 (Nestande), pending in this Committee, would require the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to apply to DMV to sponsor a
Salton Sea specialized license plate program to fund Salton Sea
restoration.
AB 2450 (Logue/J.Perez), pending in this Committee, would
require the Department of Public Health to apply to DMV to
sponsor a kidney disease awareness specialized license plate
program.
Staff Comments: As noted above, any state agency may sponsor a
specialized license plate program and apply to DMV to issue the
plates upon collection of 7,500 pre-paid applications without
legislative action. Rather than allow OES to sponsor a plate at
its discretion, this bill would require OES to apply to DMV to
sponsor a domestic violence and sexual assault awareness plate
program.
As a sponsoring entity, existing law requires OES to design a
plate, apply to DMV to sponsor a plate program, and collect
7,500 pre-paid applications within 12 months. If the requisite
number of applications has not been reached within a year, OES
has the option of either returning all fees and deposits to
applicants, or notifying DMV that it intends to continue
collection efforts to obtain the minimum 7,500 applications
within the subsequent 12 months. If OES elects to continue
collection efforts, it must contact applicants who submitted
applications and fees to determine whether they would prefer to
continue the application or have their deposits and fees
refunded.
Staff estimates that OES would incur initial costs of
approximately $25,000 in 2014-15 to design the domestic violence
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and sexual assault awareness license plate and apply to DMV to
sponsor the plate, and additional costs of approximately $50,000
in 2015-16 to collect applications and fees. If 7,500
applications have not been received within 12 months of applying
to DMV, OES may incur similar costs in 2016-17 if it chooses to
apply for an extension. There could be additional costs to the
extent OES implements a marketing strategy to attract
applicants. Staff notes that there is no requirement that OES
incur costs beyond the initial 12 month period if less than
7,500 applications have been collected.
All DMV costs are contingent upon receipt of 7,500 pre-paid
applications, as specified above. If the requisite number of
applications are not received within the specified timeframe,
the domestic violence and sexual assault awareness plate program
would not be implemented and there would be no further costs or
revenues derived from the bill.
If the license plate program is implemented, it would generate
at least $300,000 in annual revenues for the Family Violence
Prevention Program (assuming the minimum 7,500 plate holders
paid a $40 renewal fee). According to a 2013-14 OES report on
the program, there was $145,000 in available funding in both the
2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal years, $45,000 of which was General
Fund revenues. This bill could nearly triple the revenues
available for the program, and potentially offset General Fund
allocations.