BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1323 (Lieu) - Specialized license plates: Pet Lover's License
Plate Program.
Amended: August 18, 2014 Policy Vote: Not relevant
Urgency: Yes Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 28, 2014
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1323, an urgency measure, would appropriate
specified funds related to the Pet Lover's License Plate Program
from the Specialized License Plate Fund to the Veterinary
Medical Board (VMB) for the purpose of funding grants to
providers of no-cost or low-cost animal sterilization services.
Fiscal Impact: One-time appropriation of approximately $145,000
from the Pet Lover's Account in the Specialized License Plate
Fund to the VMB.
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 the Department of Motor Vehicles (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
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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.
The Veterinary Medical Board agreed to sponsor a specialized
license plate to ensure that there is a permanent source of
funding for free and low-cost spay and neuter programs, with the
goal of reducing the number of animals that end up in shelters.
VMB collected and submitted sufficient applications and fees to
DMV in 2013, and DMV began issuing Pet Lover's specialized
license plates in September of 2013. As of June 30, 2014, DMV
had issued 8,189 Pet Lover's plates, and deposited $145,115 in
net revenues into the Pet Lover's account within the Specialized
License Plate Fund.
Proposed Law: SB 1323 would appropriate any moneys in the
Specialized License Plate Fund derived from the issuance,
renewal, transfer, and substitution of Pet Lover's specialized
license plates as of the operative date of this bill to the VMB
for the sole and exclusive purpose of funding grants to
providers of no-cost or low-cost animal sterilization services.
Staff Comments: Since the DMV made Pet Lover's license plates
available, no funds have been allocated to the VMB. SB 1323
would appropriate Pet Lover's license plate funds that have
accumulated as of the operative date of the bill to the VMB to
ensure the funds are available for the intended purpose of
funding no- and low-cost spay and neuter programs in a timely
manner. Absent the bill, these funds would remain in the
Specialized License Plate Fund at least until July 1, 2015,
assuming they are appropriated by the Legislature pursuant to
the 2015-16 Budget Act.
As approved by the Senate, SB 1323 contained provisions relating
to property tax exemptions. Assembly amendments deleted those
contents and inserted language related to the Pet Lover's
License Plate Program. The Senate Rules Committee has referred
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this bill to the Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate
Rule 29.10 (d) because the current contents were never
considered by a Senate standing committee. This Committee, by a
majority vote of the membership, may either hold the bill, or
return the bill to the Senate floor for consideration of the
bill as amended in the Assembly.