SB 257: Vehicles: Gold Star Family license plates.

Existing law establishes a specialized license plate program under which the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issues specialized license plates on behalf of a sponsoring state agency that meets certain requirements. Existing law authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to sponsor a Gold Star Family specialized license plate program, which allows specified persons to apply for Gold Star Family license plates. Existing law requires that Gold Star Family license plates be issued in a sequential series. Existing law imposes additional fees for the issuance and renewal of specialized license plates, but exempts Gold Star Family license plates from these fees. Existing law also requires an applicant to pay specified environmental fees when applying for a specialized environmental license plate. plate, and directs the DMV to deposit this revenue in the California Environmental License Plate Fund.

This bill would, commencing July 1, 2016, authorize January 1, 2017, require the DMV to issue personalized Gold Star Family license plates as environmental license plates if the requester pays a $48 personalization fee and specified the above-described environmental license plate fees and specialized license plate fees. The bill would direct the revenue generated from the personalization fee and the environmental license plate fees to be deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account within the State Transportation Fund until the DMVs upfront cost of implementing this program is covered. The bill would then direct the this revenue generated from the personalization fee and the environmental fees to be deposited into the Veterans Service Office Fund.