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