BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 468
SENATOR KEVIN MURRAY, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: cohn
VERSION: 4/16/01
Analysis by: Randall Henry
FISCAL:yes
SUBJECT:
Driver's license: identification card.
DESCRIPTION:
This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to
verify the identity of any person applying for a duplicate
driver's license or identification card.
ANALYSIS:
1) Existing law provides a procedure for obtaining a
duplicate driver's license if a driver's license is lost,
destroyed or mutilated, or a new true, full name is
acquired. In order to obtain a duplicate license, the
Department of Motor Vehicles must be furnished with
satisfactory proof of that loss, destruction, or
mutilation, and if the licensee is a minor, evidence of
permission to obtain a duplicate secured from the parents,
guardian, or person having custody of the minor.
This bill would require, in addition, that the department
be furnished with satisfactory proof of the identity of the
person requesting the duplicate license, including a valid
identification document that contains a photograph of that
person.
This bill would require the department to verify a person's
identity through inspection of its own photographic files
from the licensee's prior license if the person requesting
a duplicate license is unable to provide satisfactory proof
of his or her identity.
2) Under existing law, if an identification card issued
under the Vehicle Code is lost, destroyed, mutilated, or a
new true full name is acquired, the person to whom that
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card was issued may make application for original
identification card.
This bill would provide that if an application is made the
person applying would be required to provide the department
with (1) satisfactory proof of that loss, destruction, or
mutilation and (2) satisfactory proof of the identity of
that person, including a valid identification document that
contains his or her photograph.
This bill would require any person who loses an
identification card and who, after obtaining a new
identification card, finds the original identification
card, to immediately destroy the original identification
card.
COMMENTS:
1. The Orange County Register, in a series of
investigative articles printed last year, reported on the
relative ease of acquiring fraudulent original and
duplicate licenses from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Particularly distressing were the reports of significant
financial and personal problems suffered by licensees who
were the victims of identity theft as a result of the
issuance of fraudulent duplicate driver's licenses to
persons who had posed as the licensee. The full extent of
this fraudulent activity may not be fully known, but The
Register contended that the department issues over 100,000
fraudulent licenses each year.
2. In response to these issues, the Senate Transportation
Committee conducted an interim hearing on November 16,
2000, and heard testimony from department officials, law
enforcement representatives, identity theft victims, and
privacy rights experts. The department director testified
that the department had implemented several procedural
remedies to address the problem of the issuance of
fraudulent driver's licenses.
3. In a press notification issued October 16, 2000
describing the changes launched by the department,
Department Director Steven Gourley noted that "(e)very
customer requesting a duplicate license or identification
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card will be required to provide prescribed photo
identification or their prior photo will be retrieved by a
DMV technician for comparison purposes. There will be no
exceptions to this procedure. Additional photo retrieval
stations will be installed in the busiest field offices to
reduce the impact on customer service."
4. This bill would codify into statute the current
department administrative requirement of photographic
verification of licensees requesting a duplicate driver's
license or duplicate identification card .
5. Director Gourley has indicated that the ultimate
solution to identity theft and fraudulent license
applications is "biometric verification," which consists of
electronic equipment that identifies a particular
individual by verifying the authenticity of thumb prints,
facial and other human body features. In that regard, the
department has requested $7.7 million in the 2001-02 Budget
Bill for the purpose of funding of contracts and equipment
related to biometric verification, and Senate Bill 661
(Dunn) has been introduced and which would provide
statutory authorization for this activity. The department
indicates, however, that fully implementing such a system
may be as much as three years away, and the most effective
way to safeguard the existing department verification
procedures may be measures like this one and other related
steps by the department until some form of electronic
verification can be inaugurated. (The Budget Conference
Committee recently removed all funding for biometric
verification. SB 661 has been made a two-year bill.)
6. Related legislation :
Senate Bill 766 (Karnette )-Would require that "prior to
issuing a permanent duplicate driver's license (or
identification card), (the department) shall compare the
current photograph and information on file with the
department to the likeness and information obtained from
the person requesting the duplicate license." (On April
3, 2001, SB 766 was approved by the Senate Transportation
Committee, 14-0.)
Assembly Votes:
AB 468 (Cohn)
Page 4
Floor: 76-0
Appr: 21-0
Trans: 18-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
6/13/01)
SUPPORT: California Peace Officers' Association
Los Angeles District Attorney
OPPOSED: None received.
6/14/01