BILL NUMBER: AB 610 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 22, 2011 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Solorio (Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Gatto,and JeffriesJeffries, and Williams ) FEBRUARY 16, 2011 An act to add and repeal Section 5156.5toof the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles , and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately . LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 610, as amended, Solorio. Vehicles: specialized license plates:donations.Veterinary Medical Board: pilot program.Under(1) Under existing law, the Department of Motor Vehicles issues environmental and other specialized license plates. The issuance of some of those license plates is subject to additional fees. Existing law prohibits the department from establishing a specialized license plate program for a state agency until the department has received not less than 7,500 applications for the plates. This bill would , until January 1, 2015, authorizea state agency, board, or commission, as defined,the Veterinary Medical Board to sponsor a specialized license plate pilot program if certain conditions are met. The bill would only require that an initial 2,500 paid applications be collected and held by thesponsoring agencyboard and that a sufficient amount of additional funds be received from donations to cover the department's startup costs for the manufacture of the specialized license plate. The bill would require thesponsoring agencyboard to actively request and receive donations from public and private entities that would be deposited into the Specialized License Plate Fund and, upon determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the specialized license plate program and, as to any remaining moneys, for allocation to thesponsoring agencyboard for programs that support city and county animal shelters . The bill would require the department to provide to thesponsoring state agency, board, or commissionboard a cost estimate of its actual costs to initiate the specialized plate program. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote:majority2/3 . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Based on statistics from the State Department of Public Health for 2010, 467,096 dogs and 400,433 cats entered shelters in the state. Of the number of dogs entering shelters, 19 percent were reclaimed by owners, 32 percent were adopted, and 38 percent were euthanized. Of the number of cats entering shelters, only 2 percent were reclaimed by owners and only 20 percent were adopted, and 69 percent were euthanized. The data is incomplete because it does not include two nonreporting counties and some counties only partially reported, and the statistics do not include private shelters. Thus, in 2010, more than 867,529 dogs and cats entered shelters. (b) In the United States today, it costs taxpayers an estimated two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) each year, to round up, house, kill, and dispose of homeless animals. An estimated 5,000,000 cats and dogs are killed in shelters each year, which means that a dog or cat is killed every six and one-half seconds in the United States. Millions more are abandoned, only to suffer from illness or injury before dying. (c) In six years one unspayed female dog and her offspring can reproduce 67,000 dogs. On average it costs approximately one hundred dollars ($100) to capture, house, feed, and eventually kill a homeless animal-a cost that ultimately comes out of the taxpayers' pockets. Low-cost spaying and neutering services are far below that amount. Thus, the cost of having a pregnant female dog can be much higher than the cost of spaying. (d) Each day, seven dogs and cats are born for each person born in the United States. Of those, only one in five puppies and kittens stay in their original homes for their natural lifetime. The remaining four are abandoned to the streets or end up at a shelter. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all of the animals.SECTION 1.SEC. 2. Section 5156.5 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read: 5156.5. (a) (1)A state agency, board, or commissionThe Veterinary Medical Board may apply to the department to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the department shall issue specialized license plates for that program, if theagencyboard complies with all of the requirements of this section. The specialized license plate shall be of a size, color, and configuration that meets the design criteria as set forth in Section 5155.As used in this section, "agency" includes a state agency, board, or commission.(2) The department shall not issue specialized license plates toan agencythe board for a vehicle that is exempt from the payment of registration fees pursuant to Section 9101 or 9103. (b)An agencyThe board may sponsor a specialized license plate program and the department may establish the program in the absence of 7,500 paid applications, as would be required under subdivision (a) of Section 5156 or Section 5157, if all of the following conditions are met: (1) The department shall not establish a specialized license plate program foran agencythe board until the department has received not less than 2,500 paid applications forthat agency'sthe board's specialized license plates and a sufficient amount of additional funds from donations to cover the department's startup costs for the manufacture of the specialized license plate. Theagencyboard shall collect and hold applications for the plates. Once theagencyboard has received at least 2,500 paid applications, it shall submit the applications, along with the necessary fees, to the department. The department shall not issue a specialized license plate until theagencyboard has received and submitted to the department not less than 2,500 paid applications for the particular specialized license plate within the time period prescribed in this section. Advance payment to the department by theagencyboard representing the department's estimated or actual administrative costs associated with the issuance of a particular specialized license plate shall not constitute compliance with this requirement. Theagencyboard shall have 12 months, following the date of approval of theagency'sboard's initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program, to receive the required number of applications. If, after 12 months, 2,500 paid applications have not been received, theagencyboard shall immediately do either of the following: (A) Refund to all applicants all fees or deposits that have been collected. (B) Contact the department to indicate theagency'sboard's intent to undertake collection of additional applications and fees or deposits for an additional period, not to exceed 12 months, in order to obtain the minimum 2,500 paid applications. If theagencyboard elects to exercise the option under this subparagraph, it shall contact each applicant who has submitted an application with the appropriate fees or deposits to determine if the applicant wishes a refund of fees or deposits or requests the continuance of the holding of the application and fees or deposits until that time that theagencyboard has received 2,500 paid applications. Theagencyboard shall refund the fees or deposits to an applicant so requesting. Theagencyboard shall not collect and hold applications for a period exceeding 24 months following the date of approval of theagency'sboard's initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program. (2) Theagencyboard actively requests and receives donations for the specialized license plate program, which may consist of donations from public and private entities for deposit into the Specialized License Plate Fund. Earnings generated from donations shall be retained for the specialized license plate program authorized by this section. (3) Upon determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the specialized license plate program.(c) (1) If the number of outstanding and valid specialized license plates in a particular program provided for in this section is less than 2,500, the department shall notify the sponsoring agency of that fact and shall inform the agency that if that number is less than 2,500 one year from the date of that notification, the department will no longer issue or replace those specialized license plates.(c) (1) If the number of outstanding and valid specialized license plates in the second year of the pilot program, including new applications and renewals, are not more than 5,000, or more than 7,500 in the third year of the pilot program, the department shall notify the board of that fact and shall inform the board that the department will no longer issue or replace those specialized license plates. (2) Those particular specialized license plates that were issued prior to the discontinuation provided by paragraph (1) may continue to be used and attached to the vehicle for which they were issued and may be renewed, retained, or transferred pursuant to this code. (d) In addition to the regular fees for an original registration or renewal of registration, the following additional fees shall be paid for the issuance, renewal, or transfer of the specialized license plates: (1) Fifty dollars ($50) for the original issuance of the plates. (2) Forty dollars ($40) for a renewal of registration with the plates. (3) Fifteen dollars ($15) for transfer of the plates to another vehicle. (4) Thirty-five dollars ($35) for each substitute replacement plate. (e) After deducting its administrative costs under this section, which moneys shall be available for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall deposit the additional revenue derived from the issuance, renewal, transfer, and substitution of the specialized license plates in the Specialized License Plate Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, themoneys in that fund shall be allocated to each sponsoring agency, in proportion to the amount in the fund that is attributable to the agency's specialized license plate program. Except as authorized under Section 5159, the sponsoring agency shall expend all funds received under this section exclusively for projects and programs that promote the agency's official policy, mission, or work.moneys in that fund shall be allocated to the board and, except as authorized under Section 5159, the board shall expend all funds received under this section exclusively for projects and programs that support city and county animal shelters, including, but not limited to, spaying and neutering programs and adoption programs. (f) The department shall provide to thesponsoring state agency, board, or commissionboard an estimate of its actual costs to initiate the specialized license plate program authorized under this section. (g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to ensure that the pilot program for a specialized license plate becomes operative as soon as possible to allow the Veterinary Medical Board to support the critically important efforts of city and county animal shelters to address serious animal care and control problems facing the state, it is necessary that this act go into effect immediately.