SB 611: Vehicles.

(1)Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue special license plates or distinguishing placards to disabled persons or disabled veterans or to organizations or agencies involved in the transportation of disabled persons or disabled veterans, for purposes of providing certain parking privileges. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue temporary distinguishing placards to temporarily disabled persons or other permanently disabled persons, as specified. Existing law requires an applicant for a special plate, distinguishing placard, or temporary distinguishing placard to submit a certification of disability by a physician and surgeon or other specified medical professional, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to conduct an annual random audit of applications submitted for these plates or placards to verify the authenticity of the certificates and information submitted in support of the applications.

This bill would require an applicant for a special license plate, a distinguishing placard, or a temporary distinguishing placard to provide proof of his or her true full name and date of birth at the time of application by submitting specified documents to the department. The bill would include licensed podiatrists on the list of medical professionals authorized to provide disability certification. The bill would require the department to conduct a quarterly random audit of applications submitted for these plates or placards and to seek the assistance of the Medical Board of California or the appropriate regulatory boards in conducting the audits.

Existing law requires distinguishing placards to have a fixed expiration date every 2 years, as specified. Existing law requires the department to annually compare its record of issued placards against the records of the Office of Vital Records of the State Department of Public Health, as specified, and to withhold any renewal notices that otherwise would have been sent for a placardholder identified as deceased. Existing law authorizes a placardholder to apply for a substitute placard without recertification of eligibility if his or her placard is lost or stolen.

This bill would require the department to send a renewal form to each placardholder every 6 years, as specified. The renewal form would not require recertification of eligibility or proof of the applicants true full name. The bill would additionally require the department to compare its record of issued placards against the Social Security Administrations Death Master File. The bill would prohibit the department from issuing more than 4 substitute placards to a placardholder in a 2-year renewal period. The bill would require a placardholder who requires a substitute placard in excess of this limit to reapply for a new placard and submit a new certification of disability.

(2)Existing law requires, commencing January 1, 2019, and until January 1, 2026, a person who has been convicted of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, as specified, to install for a specified period of time as ordered by the court, an ignition interlock device (IID) on the vehicle he or she operates, provided however that installation of an IID is discretionary for a first offender, as specified. Existing law also requires persons convicted of driving under the influence of a drug to install an IID. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2019, and until January 1, 2026, authorizes a person convicted of driving a motor vehicle under the influence, if all other requirements are satisfied, including the installation of an IID, to apply for a restricted drivers license without completing a period of license suspension or revocation. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles, if a person maintains an IID for the specified required time, to reinstate the persons privilege to operate a motor vehicle at the time the other reinstatement requirements are satisfied. Existing law specifies periods for which a person convicted of one or more prior driving-under-the-influence violations is required to install an IID, as specified. Existing law requires suspension or revocation of a restricted drivers license if the person fails to comply with maintenance and other requirements for an IID one time under certain circumstances, or 3 or more times under other circumstances, as specified. Under existing law, some persons are required to install an IID on every vehicle operated by the person, and some persons are required to install an IID on every vehicle owned or operated by the person.

This bill would make additional clarifying and conforming changes to those provisions. Among other things, the bill would make conforming changes to require persons convicted of driving under the combined influence of alcohol and any drug, or certain passenger-for-hire drivers convicted of driving under the influence to install an IID, as specified. The bill would clarify that prior convictions for purposes of determining the specified time that an IID is required to be installed means convictions within 10 years of the current conviction. The bill would conform certain provisions requiring installers of IIDs to report failures to comply with maintenance and other requirements by requiring reporting if the person fails 3 or more times to comply with those requirements. The bill would conform certain provisions to require a person to install an IID in a vehicle the person operates, rather than owns. The bill would make additional conforming and clarifying changes regarding IID programs and requirements, and would add changes to provisions relating to, among others, the application of credit toward mandatory IID restriction terms, as provided, and the issuance of an IID-restricted noncommercial drivers license to a person whose offense occurred in a commercial vehicle, as specified. The bill would clarify that these provisions apply only to a violation occurring on or after January 1, 2019.

Existing law makes it a crime to violate certain provisions relating to IIDs and motor vehicles equipped with IIDs.

This bill would additionally expand those provisions to apply to certain persons whose driving privileges are restricted pursuant to the provisions described above, as provided. By expanding the application of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(3)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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.