BILL ANALYSIS AB 1135 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Kevin De Leon, Chair AB 1135 (Skinner) - As Amended: April 13, 2009 Policy Committee: TransportationVote:8-5 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill requires vehicle owners to record their odometer readings when applying for registration renewal. Specifically, this bill: 1)Provides that this information, except for the name and address of the vehicle owner and the license plate number of the vehicle, is public information. 2)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to group the information into census blocks and create a database that can sort the data by block group, census tract, city and county. 3)Requires the data to be made available on DMV's website on an annual basis. FISCAL EFFECT 1)One-time programming costs of $500,000 to DMV to revise and accept registration renewal forms. 2)Because the current renewal process is largely automated, introduction of handwritten information on odometer readings will substantially increase the average time needed to process renewals. The added time is likely to result in at least 40 PYs and over $3 million for processing . 3)Unknown but potentially significant costs to maintain data that can be sorted by census tract on its website. COMMENTS AB 1135 Page 2 1)Background. SB 375 (Steinberg) Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008. SB 375 requires Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to include sustainable community strategies in their regional transportation plans for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also aligns planning for transportation and housing, and creates incentives for the implementation of these strategies. Given that transportation accounts for nearly 40% of all California's greenhouse gas emissions, it is generally agreed that meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will require reductions in vehicle miles traveled (VMT). 2)Purpose . Supporters of this bill assert that current VMT estimates are not reliable, particularly at the regional level. They believe that more complete and accurate data will assist local and regional decision-makers in better understanding the impact of land use on driving patterns, and help them measure effects of new transit investments, transportation pricing, and other policies on VMT. 3)Key issue . Absent some enforcement mechanism (which would be extremely costly to implement), it is questionable whether data gathered from reported odometer readings will produce more accurate estimates of VMT than existing methods. Given this, a key question is whether the limited benefits of this bill justify its high costs. Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081