BILL NUMBER: SB 773INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Allen FEBRUARY 27, 2015 An act to add Section 4024 to the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicle registration. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 773, as introduced, Allen. Vehicles: registration fraud: study. Existing law prohibits a person from driving, moving, or leaving standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly, unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid, except as specified. Existing law makes it a felony for a person who, with the intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud, alters, forges, counterfeit, or falsifies a registration card or who utters, publishes, passes, or attempts to pass, as true and genuine, a false, altered, forged, or counterfeited registration card knowing it to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeited. This bill would request the University of California to conduct a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle, and would require the study to include specified information, including, quantification of the magnitude of the problem, the costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues, and recommended strategies for increasing compliance with registration requirements. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and other state agencies, as requested by the University of California, to fully cooperate with the University of California in conducing the study. The bill would request the University of California to post a report of the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017. 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. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle is both illegal and fundamentally unfair to the vast majority of Californians who comply with registration requirements. It robs the state and local governments of millions of dollars of revenues needed for vital purposes, such as transportation projects, supporting the Department of the California Highway Patrol, deterring auto theft, enforcing laws prohibiting driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, removing abandoned vehicles, and many other socially desirable programs. (2) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle also has significant public health consequences and contributes disproportionately to motor vehicle emissions because many individuals committing registration fraud have gross emitting vehicles and are deliberately circumventing the inspection and maintenance program. (3) Motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle also significantly increases insurance costs for law-abiding citizens. (4) It is in the public interest to have motor vehicle owners comply with existing registration laws. (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage motorists to register their vehicles in accordance with existing law. SEC. 2. Section 4024 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read: 4024. (a) The University of California is requested to conduct a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle. The study shall include all of the following: (1) Quantification of the magnitude of the problem. (2) The strategies being used by motorists to commit motor vehicle registration fraud. (3) The reasons for the behaviors of motorists who commit fraud in registrations of, or fail to register their, motor vehicles. (4) The costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues. (5) Increases in air pollution. (6) Other costs, and consequences of these behaviors. (7) Recommended strategies for increasing compliance with registration requirements. (b) The Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and other state agencies, as requested by the University of California, shall fully cooperate with the University of California in conducing the study. (c) The University of California is requested to post a report of the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017.