OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-982
AN ACT REVISING MOTOR VEHICLE STATUTES.
Primary Analyst: PM 4/14/21
Contributing Analyst(s): PR
Reviewer: MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Loss
Minimal Minimal
State Revenues GF&TF - Potential
Revenue Loss
See Below See Below
Department of Motor Vehicles TF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
State Revenues GF&TF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Department of Motor Vehicles TF - Revenue Loss Less than
1,000
Less than
1,000
Department of Motor Vehicles TF - Cost Less than
20,000
Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund; GF&TF=General Fund & Transportation Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
Section 1 allows a 16- or 17-year-old to transport their sibling to or
from school within the first six-month of licensure and results in a
potential revenue loss to the extent that fines will no longer be
collected. In FY 20, the current statute restricting passengers for 16-
and 17-year-old drivers resulted in 135 fines totaling $13,313.
Section 2 requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to
allow motor home and recreational vehicle owners who use their
vehicles as permanent residences to register using a post office box in
the town in which they reside. This section does not result in a fiscal
impact to DMV because it is within the department's current expertise 2021SB-00982-R000489-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
to update the registration form as needed.
Section 3 prohibits DMV from suspending licenses for failing to pay
fines resulting from a motor vehicle infraction and results in a
potential revenue loss to the extent that a subset of violators no longer
pays the requisite fines.
Section 4 removes the requirement that children with disabilities
must be under age 18 for parents or guardians to receive accessible
placards. This section results in a potential minimal revenue gain to
DMV to the extent that more temporary placards are requested due to
the expanded eligibility. In FY 20, collections from temporary placards
were $38,850. Under current law, and unchanged by the bill, there is
no fee for a permanent placard.
Section 5 creates a new infraction for failing to yield the right-of-
way to a bus traveling in the same direction when the bus
appropriately signals to reenter the flow of traffic. To the extent that
offenders are fined, this section results in potential minimal revenue.
Section 6 requires school buses, beginning with model year 2022, to
be equipped with an extended stop arm and results in a potential
minimal revenue gain from fines. There were no fines issued for
violating the school bus equipment statute in either FY 20 or FY 19.
Section 9 lowers, from $25 to $15, the fee for replacing mutilated or
illegible veteran plates. DMV systems do not track the number of
mutilated veteran plates that are replaced each year. However, in FY
20 DMV replaced 11,414 mutilated plates of any kind, which represent
approximately 0.4% of total active plates.
1
Assuming a similar
percentage of mutilated plate replacements applies to the 17,770 active
veteran plates, this section results in an estimated revenue loss of less
than $1,000 annually.
Section 11 requires DMV to offer driver's license testing in
Vietnamese and Albanian and results in a one-time cost of less than
1
As of April 1, 2021, according to data provided by DMV. 2021SB-00982-R000489-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
$20,000 in FY 22 to procure translation services for the test. Periodic
minimal costs may be incurred beyond FY 22 in order to translate
updates to the test as required.
Section 14 requires DMV to report on compliance with the laws
regarding the sale and repair of fire apparatus and does not result in a
fiscal impact because this is within the department's current expertise.
Section 15 requires DMV to verify with the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA) that commercial driver's license
applicants have undergone federally-required training. This results in
no fiscal impact because the requisite verification will be provided by
FMCSA at no cost to DMV.
Section 16 expands the authority for DMV and the Department of
Administrative Services to share organ and tissue donor information to
include instruction permit holders and has no fiscal impact.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation, the number of violations,
or as otherwise described.