BILL NUMBER: AB 1135AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act to amend Section 4602 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1135, as amended, Skinner. Vehicles: registration renewal. Existing law requires an owner of a vehicle to submit an application for renewal of a vehicle registration to the Department of Motor Vehicles no later than midnight of the expiration date. This bill would require the owner of a vehicle, upon application for renewal of a vehicle registration, to report the current odometer reading of the vehicle. The bill would require that information, except for the name and address of the vehicle owner and the vehicle license plate number , to be public information. The bill would also require the department to group the information into census blocks, create a database that can compile census block data and sort it by block group, census tract, and city and county, and post the data on the department's Internet Web site. Vote: majority. 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) To assist in achieving California's climate change policy objectives as these relate to the state's transportation planning goals, it is evident that better information about greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles will be essential. (b) The current use of estimates and models for measuring the miles driven and the resulting emissions from those miles driven have been historically useful, but are considered generally inadequate for providing the specific transportation needs of the future. (c) More accurate data about vehicle-miles-traveled--the mileage driven annually by Californians--would provide essential information to guide local transportation and land use planning. Location of transit corridor improvements, light rail, bicycle paths, and high-occupancy freeway lanes now depend on the estimates done by various state agencies, but all of these projects would benefit from more accurate data. Better data would also provide more consistent local and statewide estimates for transportation planning, city planning, and air quality planning efforts. The data would be essential in establishing long-term, historical trends in vehicle use, traffic congestion, energy consumption, and air quality measures, including ozone precursor pollutants and greenhouse gases. (d) Mobile source emissions estimates would be improved due to the detailed information on vehicle-miles traveled by vehicle age. Newer vehicles tend to be cleaner, yet are driven more than older vehicles. This data would be of critical importance to the State Air Resources Board and local air districts in monitoring fleet turnover, and the efficacy of tailpipe controls in reducing criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases. (e) Transportation planning models would be improved due to detailed information on vehicle-miles traveled by neighborhood for each registered vehicle. Vehicles owned by urban households tend to be driven less than vehicles owned in suburban and rural neighborhoods. This consistent statewide database would be critical in identifying trends in vehicle usage in the rural, suburban, and urban neighborhoods in California. SEC. 2. Section 4602 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read: 4602. (a) Application for renewal of a vehicle registration shall be made by the owner not later than midnight of the expiration date, and shall be made by presentation of the registration card last issued for the vehicle or by presentation of a potential registration card issued by the department for use at the time of renewal and by payment of the full registration year fee for the vehicle. If the registration card and potential registration card are unavailable, a fee as specified in Section 9265 shall not be paid. (b) At the time of application for renewal of a vehicle registration, the owner shall report the current odometer reading. This information, except for the name and address of the vehicle owner and license plate number of the vehicle , shall be public information. (c) The department shall group the information into census blocks, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, and create a database that can compile the census block data and sort the data by block group, census tract, and city and county. The data shall be made available on the department's Internet Web site on an annual basis.