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
Jeffries   Jeffries,   and Williams  )

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   An act to add  and repeal  Section 5156.5  to
  of  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,  authorize
 a 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 the  sponsoring agency
  board  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 the  sponsoring agency   board
 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 the
 sponsoring agency   board for programs that
support city and county animal shelters  .
   The bill would require the department to provide to the 
sponsoring state agency, board, or commission   board
 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:  majority   2/3  . 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 commission
  The 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 the  agency   board  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 to
 an agency   the board  for a vehicle that
is exempt from the payment of registration fees pursuant to Section
9101 or 9103.
   (b)  An agency   The 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 for  an agency   the board  until
the department has received not less than 2,500 paid applications for
 that agency's   the 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. The  agency  
board  shall collect and hold applications for the plates. Once
the  agency   board  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 the  agency 
 board  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 the  agency
  board  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. The  agency   board 
shall have 12 months, following the date of approval of the 
agency's   board'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, the  agency 
 board  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 the  agency's
  board'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 the  agency  
board  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
the  agency   board  has received 2,500
 paid  applications. The  agency  
board  shall refund the fees or deposits to an applicant so
requesting. The  agency   board  shall not
collect and hold applications for a period exceeding 24 months
following the date of approval of the  agency's 
 board's  initial application to sponsor a specialized
license plate program.
   (2) The  agency   board  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, the
 moneys 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 the  sponsoring state
agency, board, or commission   board  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.