AB 790: Identification cards: replacement: reduced fee.

Existing law requires, upon an application for an identification card, a fee of $26 to be paid to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Existing law provides for a fee waiver for an original or replacement identification card to a senior citizen, as specified, or to a person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person or homeless child or youth, as specified. Existing law also provides for a reduced fee of $6 for an original or replacement identification card to a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for one of specified assistance programs. Existing law requires that all fees received pursuant to those provisions be deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account.

This bill would provide for a reduced fee of $8 for a replacement identification card issued to an eligible inmate, as defined, upon release from a state or federal correctional facility or a county jail facility, and to an eligible patient, as defined, treated in a facility of the State Department of State Hospitals. The bill would require, as part of eligibility for the reduced fee, among other things, that the person previously held a California drivers license or identification card, that the person has a usable photo on file with the department that is not more than 10 years old, that the person has no outstanding fees due for a prior California identification card, that the person has provided, and the department has verified, certain identifying information of the person, and that the person has provided the department, upon application, a specified verification. In the case of an inmate, the bill would require the verification to be on state or federal correctional facility letterhead or county sheriff letterhead, and to contain the original signature of an official from those respective entities. By creating new duties for county sheriffs, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.