AB 1634: Child health and safety: “Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids” license plate program.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California Legacy License Plate Program, and to create and issue a series of specialized license plates, consisting of one or more of 3 specified designs that replicate license plates from the states past. Existing law imposes additional fees for the issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer of these license plates and requires that those additional fees be deposited in the California Environmental License Plate Fund.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help our Kids special license plates that include specified shapes and imposes additional fees, as specified, for their issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer. Existing law requires that those additional fees be deposited in the Child Health and Safety Fund, as specified.

This bill would authorize an applicant for a California Legacy License Plate to apply to use a shape from the Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help our Kids special license plates for an additional fee. The bill would require that funds from the fees generated be deposited in the California Environmental License Plate Fund and the Child Health and Safety Fund, as specified. The bill would additionally increase the fees for the initial issuance and renewal of the Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids license plates.

Existing law requires that 50% of the funds derived from Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids license plates be available, upon appropriation, to the State Department of Social Services for administering various provisions related to childcare licensing, as specified. Existing law requires that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the balance be available, as described, for programs that address other categories of potential childhood injury, as specified. Existing law requires counties to create local childcare resource and referral programs to identify childcare resources and establish a referral process for parents, among other things. Existing law also creates the California Children and Families Commission, to promote, support, and improve early childhood development. Existing law provides for funding to county commissions that develop, adopt, promote, and implement local early childhood development programs consistent with specified goals and objectives.

The bill would allocate, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, 50% of the fees collected before July 1, 2027, to state and local childcare provider licensure, oversight, recruitment, training, and development, and the remainder to childcare safety and health, as specified. Of the fees collected on or after July 1, 2027, the bill would allocate 50% for programs that address specified child health and safety concerns and the remainder of the funding would be allocated for specified child abuse prevention purposes.