AB128 - Transportation.

Amended IN Senate June 24, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 128 Introduced by Assembly Member Gabriel Committee on Budget (Assembly Members Gabriel (Chair), Addis, Ahrens, Alvarez, Bennett, Bonta, Connolly, Fong, Haney, Hart, Jackson, Lee, Muratsuchi, Ortega, Patel, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rogers, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Ward, and Wilson) January 08, 2025 An act relating to the Budget Act of 2025. An act to add Section 13084 to the Government Code, and to amend Sections 1685, 12804.9, 12811.4, 13352, and 23109 of, and to add and repeal Section 21655.10 of, the Vehicle Code, relating to transportation, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 128, as amended, Committee on Budget. Budget Act of 2025. Transportation. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to submit and prepare and submit to the Governor a proposed budget. To align the annual budget with the adopted state transportation improvement program, existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to submit to the Department of Finance a revised capital outlay support and capital outlay budget estimates as part of its May Revision process. This bill would authorize the Department of Finance to increase or decrease funding appropriated to the Department of Transportation’s capital outlay support program using funding made available to the program from both the annual Budget Act and any other appropriation provided the combined adjustments total $0, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to authorize the adjustments not sooner than 30 days after the notification in writing of the necessity therefor to the chairpersons of specified legislative committees. Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish contracts for electronic programs that allow qualified private industry partners to provide services that include processing and payment programs for vehicle registration and titling transactions. Existing law requires the department to charge private industry partners a $1 transaction fee for the implementation of their proportionate share of departmentwide system improvements until the director determines that sufficient funds have been received to pay for the improvements, or on December 31, 2023, whichever occurs first. This bill would reimplement the transaction fee described above commencing July 1, 2025, until the director determines that sufficient funds have been received to pay for the improvements, or on December 31, 2028, whichever occurs first. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to require an examination for issuance of a driver’s license. The examination is required to be appropriate to the type of motor vehicle or combination of vehicles the applicant desires a license to drive or tow, in accordance with certain license classifications. A class C driver’s license includes the operation of, among other vehicles, a 2-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing either a trailer coach or a 5th-wheel travel trailer not exceeding 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation. If the towed 5th-wheel trailer exceeds 10,000 pounds, but is less than 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, and towing is not for compensation, existing law requires the holder of a class C driver’s license to also pass a specialized written examination. Existing law, commencing on January 1, 2027, instead permits a class C driver’s licenseholder to operate a vehicle when towing a trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight if specified conditions are met, including the towing is not for compensation or commercial purposes, the trailer is used exclusively for recreational purposes, and the person has passed a specialized written examination. Existing law also, commencing on January 1, 2027, includes within a class C driver’s license the operation of a vehicle when towing a 5th-wheel travel trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight when the towing is not for compensation and the licenseholder has passed a specialized written examination. This bill would instead make those provisions operative on January 1, 2029. Beginning January 1, 2027, existing law requires an electronic application for an original or renewal driver’s license or identification card to contain a solicitation for the applicant to enroll in the National Marrow Donor Program’s (NMDP) registry as a bone marrow or blood stem cell donor, and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to electronically transmit specified applicant information weekly to the NMDP. This bill would delete that operative date and would instead require the department to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the NMDP to mutually agree on the operative date for the above-described requirements. Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway or aiding or abetting in a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on any highway. Upon conviction, existing law punishes a person by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 90 days, by a fine of not more than $500, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2025, additionally authorizes the court to order the privilege to operate a motor vehicle suspended for 90 days to 6 months and restricts the person’s operation of a motor vehicle for the purposes of their employment, as specified. Existing law requires the court to consider a person’s hardships, as specified, when deciding to either suspend or restrict a driver’s license. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend or restrict a driver’s license as ordered by the court. This bill would delay the commencement of the court’s additional authority to restrict or suspend a driver’s license, as described above, from July 1, 2025, to January 1, 2029, and make conforming changes. Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and local authorities to designate certain highway lanes for the exclusive or preferential use of high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs), requires the department or local authorities to place signage advising motorists of the rules governing the use of those lanes, and prohibits the use of those lanes by motorists other than in conformity with the posted rules. Existing federal law requires a public authority that has jurisdiction over an HOV lane to require a vehicle using the lane to have no fewer than 2 occupants. Existing federal law provides certain exceptions to this requirement, including motorcycles, public transportation vehicles, blood transport vehicles, and, until September 30, 2025, specified alternative fuel and electric vehicles. Existing state law authorizes motorcycles, mass transit vehicles, blood transport vehicles, paratransit vehicles, and, until September 30, 2025, specified alternative fuel and electric vehicles to use HOV lanes regardless of occupancy. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would authorize the Department of Transportation and local authorities to temporarily permit exclusive or preferential use of HOV lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, and other lanes for vehicles displaying a distinctive decal, label, or other identifier issued by the Olympic and Paralympic Games organizers that clearly distinguishes the vehicle is being operated on the games route network during an Olympic and Paralympic Games period. The bill would require the decal, label, or other identifier to be approved by the Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and to display a serial number or identification number to verify that the decal, label, or other identifier is being used on the vehicle for which it is issued. This bill would appropriate $1,000 to the Department of Transportation to fund projects in support of the games route network and would authorize the Department of Finance to augment that amount, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2025. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO YES Fiscal Committee: NO YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 13084 is added to the Government Code, to read: 13084. The Department of Finance may increase or decrease funding appropriated to the Department of Transportation’s capital outlay support program using funding made available to the program from both the annual Budget Act and any other appropriation, provided the combined adjustments total zero dollars ($0). Any adjustment made pursuant to this section shall be limited to the capital outlay support program. The Department of Finance shall authorize the adjustments not sooner than 30 days after notification in writing of the necessity therefor to the chairpersons of the committees in each house of the Legislature that consider appropriations and the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. SEC. 2. Section 1685 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read: 1685. (a) In order to continue improving the quality of products and services it provides to its customers, the department, in conformance with Article 4 (commencing with Section 19130) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, may establish contracts for electronic programs that allow qualified private industry partners to join the department in providing services that include processing and payment programs for vehicle registration and titling transactions, and services related to reporting vehicle sales and producing temporary license plates pursuant to Sections 4456 and 4456.2. (b) (1) The department may enter into contractual agreements with qualified private industry partners. There are the following three types of private industry partnerships authorized under this section: (A) First-line business partner is an industry partner that receives data directly from the department and uses it to complete registration and titling activities for that partner’s own business purposes. (B) First-line service provider is an industry partner that receives information from the department and then transmits it to another authorized industry partner. (C) Second-line business partner is a partner that receives information from a first-line service provider. (2) The private industry partner contractual agreements shall include the following minimum requirements: (A) Filing of an application and payment of an application fee, as established by the department. (B) Submission of information, including, but not limited to, fingerprints and personal history statements, focusing on and concerning the applicant’s character, honesty, integrity, and reputation as the department may consider necessary. (C) Posting a bond in an amount consistent with Section 1815. (3) The department shall, through regulations, establish any additional requirements for the purpose of safeguarding privacy and protecting the information authorized for release under this section. (c) (1) The director may establish, through the adoption of regulations, the maximum amount that a qualified private industry partner may charge its customers in providing the services authorized under subdivision (a). (2) On or before September 1, 2022, and each January 1 thereafter, the department shall adjust the amount determined pursuant to paragraph (1) in accordance with the most recent available data on growth in the California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, except the initial adjustment made on or before September 1, 2022, shall be based on growth in the California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in the period since the end of the 2021 calendar year. The amount of the fee shall be rounded to the nearest whole dollar, with amounts equal to, or greater than, fifty cents ($0.50) rounded to the next highest whole dollar. (d) The department shall charge a three-dollar ($3) transaction fee for the information and services provided pursuant to subdivision (a). The private industry partner may pass on the transaction fee to the customer, but the total charge to a customer may not exceed the amount established by the director under subdivision (c). The department may establish, through the adoption of regulations, exemptions from the transaction fee for transactions other than an original registration or transfer of ownership. (e) All fees collected by the department pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account. On January 1 of each year, the department shall adjust the fee in accordance with the California Consumer Price Index. The amount of the fee shall be rounded to the nearest whole dollar, with amounts equal to, or greater than, fifty cents ($0.50) rounded to the next highest whole dollar. (f) The department shall adopt regulations and procedures that ensure adequate oversight and monitoring of qualified private industry partners to protect vehicle owners from the improper use of vehicle records. These regulations and procedures shall include provisions for qualified private industry partners to periodically submit records to the department, and the department shall review those records as necessary. The regulations shall also include provisions for the dedication of department resources to program monitoring and oversight; the protection of confidential records in the department’s files and databases; and the duration and nature of the contracts with qualified private industry partners. (g) The department shall, annually, by October 1, provide a report to the Legislature that shall include all of the following information gathered during the fiscal year immediately preceding the report date: (1) Listing of all qualified private industry partners, including names and business addresses. (2) Volume of transactions, by type, completed by business partners. (3) Total amount of funds, by transaction type, collected by business partners. (4) Total amount of funds received by the department. (5) Description of any fraudulent activities identified by the department. (6) Evaluation of the benefits of the program. (7) Recommendations for any administrative or statutory changes that may be needed to improve the program. (h) Nothing in this section impairs or limits the authority provided in Section 4610 or Section 12155 of the Insurance Code. (i) (1) In Commencing July 1, 2025, in addition to, and in accordance with, the transaction fee described in subdivision (d), the department shall charge priva [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]