Bill Text: CA AB708 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Traffic violator schools.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-09-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 307, Statutes of 2019. [AB708 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB708-Amended.html
owner shall meet all of the following criteria and be in full compliance with this chapter before a license may be issued for the traffic violator school: school on or after January 1, 2020:
Section 11205 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read: school or group of affiliated schools, school, the list shall indicate the school’s or group of affiliated schools’ approved name, internet website, telephone number, the modalities of instruction offered, and, if applicable, the
cities where classroom instruction is offered. Each licensed school or group of affiliated schools shall only be listed once and a school that is part of an affiliated group of schools shall not be listed separately in addition to the listing for the group. once. The sequential listing of licensed schools shall be randomized daily. each time the department list is accessed. The approved name of a traffic violator school shall not include a cost, price, or amount of the traffic violator school course, unless that name accurately reflects the cost of the course.
Section 11205.5 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read: school's
school’s cybersecurity practices have been certified by an accredited third-party verification entity approved by the department.
meet current state and federal guidelines as outlined in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework or ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission) 27001.
Bill Title: Traffic violator schools.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-09-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 307, Statutes of 2019. [AB708 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB708-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
July 02, 2019 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 25, 2019 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 708
| Introduced by Assembly Member Frazier |
February 19, 2019 |
An act to amend Section Sections 11202 and 11205 of, and to add Section 11205.5 to, the Vehicle Code, relating to traffic violator school.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 708, as amended, Frazier.
Traffic violator schools.
Existing law provides for the licensing of traffic violator school owners, operators, and instructors by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Existing law authorizes the court, after a deposit of bail, a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, to order persons who hold a specified noncommercial driver’s license, or certain persons who hold a specified commercial driver’s license, to attend a licensed traffic violator school. Existing law requires the department to provide a list of licensed traffic violator schools on its internet website. Existing law requires the sequential listing of traffic schools to be randomized daily.
This bill would require that each traffic violator school, or group of affiliated schools, as defined, to
school be listed only one time on each list and for a school that is part of a group to not be listed separately in addition to the listing for the group. list, and would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to randomly generate the sequential listing of traffic schools each time the list is accessed. The bill would prohibit a licensee or applicant from having a specified relationship with another traffic violator school, and would prohibit traffic violator schools from sharing offices or employees. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to require each licensee or applicant
to disclose if they operate any schools that are part of a group, as specified. have a specified relationship with another traffic violator school. The bill would provide penalties for any licensee who has a specified relationship or fails to make such a disclosure.
This bill would also require the department to adopt regulations as specified relating to cybersecurity of traffic violator schools and protection of participants’ personal information.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 11202 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:11202.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a traffic violator school(1) Maintain an established place of business in this state that is open to the public. An office or place of business of a traffic
violator school, including any traffic violator school branch or classroom location, shall not be situated within 500 feet of any court of law. law or within 50 feet of another licensed traffic violator school. The office or place of business shall be a separate and enclosed space consisting of a minimum of 100 square feet and shall have a lockable entry door.
(2) Ensure that two or more licensed traffic violator schools do not share the same office or place of business.
(3) Be open to the public and
maintain regular business hours Monday to Friday, inclusive, excluding state and federal holidays. The business hours shall be posted to the traffic violator school’s internet website.
(4) Have an operator or employee in the office or place of business during regular business hours who is capable of successfully passing a school audit conducted by the department or contracted monitoring agency. The operator or employee shall not be an operator or employee of two or more licensed traffic violator schools.
(5) Have a name that does not include a cost, price, or amount of the traffic violator school course, unless that name accurately reflects the cost of the course.
(2)
(6) Conform to standards established by regulation of the department. In adopting the standards, the department shall consider those practices and instructional programs that may reasonably foster the knowledge, skills, and judgment necessary for compliance with traffic laws. The department shall establish standards for each instructional modality, which may include requirements specific to each modality. The standards may include, but are not limited to, classroom facilities, school personnel, equipment, curriculum, procedures for the testing and evaluation of students, recordkeeping, and business practices.
(3)
(7) Procure and file with the department a bond of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for home study schools and two thousand dollars ($2,000) for classroom-based schools executed by an admitted surety and conditioned upon the applicant not practicing fraud or making a fraudulent representation that will cause a monetary loss to a person taking instruction from the applicant or to the state or any local authority.
(4)
(8) Have the proper equipment necessary for giving instruction to traffic violators.
(5)
(9) Have a lesson plan approved by the department, except as provided for in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), and provide not less than the minimum instructional time specified in the approved plan. The approved plan shall include a postlesson knowledge test. The lesson plan for each instructional modality shall require separate approval by the department.
(6)
(10) (A) Execute and file with the department an instrument designating the director as agent of the applicant for service of
process, as provided in this paragraph, in any action commenced against the applicant arising out of a claim for damages suffered by a person by the applicant’s violation of a provision of this code committed in relation to the specifications of the applicant’s traffic violator school or a condition of the bond required by paragraph (3).
(B) The applicant shall stipulate in the instrument that a process directed to the applicant, when personal service cannot be made in this state after due diligence, may be served instead upon the director or, in the director’s absence from the department’s principal offices, upon an employee in charge of the office of the director, and this substituted service is of the same effect as personal service on the applicant. The instrument shall further stipulate that the agency created by the designation shall continue during the period covered by the license issued pursuant to this section and so long thereafter
as the applicant may be made to answer in damages for a violation of this code for which the surety may be made liable or a condition of the bond.
(C) The instrument designating the director as agent for service of process shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a notary public.
(D) If the director or an employee of the department, in lieu of the director, is served with a summons and complaint on behalf of the licensee, one copy of the summons and complaint shall be left with the director or in the director’s office in Sacramento or mailed to the office of the director in Sacramento. A fee of five dollars ($5) shall also be paid to the director or employee at the time of service of the copy of the summons and complaint, or shall be included with a summons and complaint served by mail.
(E) The service on the
director or department employee pursuant to this paragraph is sufficient service on the licensee if a notice of the service and a copy of the summons and complaint are, on the same day as the service or mailing of the summons and complaint, sent by registered mail by the plaintiff or his or her
the plaintiff’s attorney to the licensee. A copy of the summons and complaint shall also be mailed by the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney to the surety on the licensee’s bond at the address of the surety given in the bond, postpaid and registered with request for return receipt.
(F) The director shall keep a record of all processes served pursuant to this paragraph showing the day and hour of service, and shall retain the documents served in the department’s files.
(G) If the licensee is served with process by service upon the director or a department employee in lieu of the director, the licensee has 30 days after that service within which to answer any complaint or other pleading filed in the cause. For purposes of venue, if the licensee is served with process by service upon the director or a department employee in lieu of the director,
the service is considered to have been made upon the licensee in the county in which the licensee has or last had his or her an established place of business.
(7)
(11) (A) Meet the requirements of Section 11202.5, relating to traffic violator school operators, if the owner is also the operator of the traffic violator school. If the owner is not the operator of the traffic violator school, the owner shall designate an employee as operator who shall meet the
requirements of Section 11202.5.
(B) A person may be an operator for more than one traffic school if (i) the schools have a common owner or owners and (ii) the schools share a single established business address.
(C) A traffic violator school with multiple branch locations may designate a separate operator for each location, but shall designate one of the operators as the primary contact for the department.
(8)
(12) Have an instructor who meets the requirements of Section 11206. An owner who is designated as the operator for the school is
authorized to act as an instructor without meeting the requirements of Section 11206. The owner license may also include authorization to act as an instructor if the owner is not designated as the operator but meets the requirements of Section 11206. The owner license shall specify if the owner is authorized to offer instruction. If the owner is not approved to act as an instructor, the school must employ an instructor licensed pursuant to Section 11206.
(9)
(13) Provide the department with a written assurance that the school will comply with the applicable provisions of Subchapter II or III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.), and
any other federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Compliance may include providing sign language interpreters or other accommodations for students with disabilities.
(b) The qualifying requirements specified in subdivision (a) shall be met within one year from the date of application for a license, or a new application and fee are required.
(c)A court-approved program that was in operation prior to July 1, 2011, shall file an application for licensure as a traffic violator school by March 1, 2012. A court shall not approve a traffic violator school program after July 1, 2011.
(1)A court-approved program may continue to operate as approved by a court until the department makes a licensing decision.
(2)The department shall approve or deny all completed applications filed pursuant to this subdivision no later than December 31, 2012.
(3)A court-approved
program shall be exempt from paragraph (5) of subdivision (a). The licensed program may continue to use the curriculum approved by the court until the department establishes curriculum standards in regulation. The court-approved program must comply with the new curriculum standards by the effective date established in regulation.
(c) On or before January 1, 2021, a traffic violator school licensed before January 1, 2020, shall meet all of the criteria in subdivision (a) and shall be in full compliance with this chapter.
(d) A traffic violator school found in violation of paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) of subdivision (a) shall have 30 days to correct the violation. A
followup inspection shall be made to ensure compliance. If the violation is not corrected after 30 days, the traffic violator school shall have its license suspended immediately for 45 days and have its name removed from the department’s list provided pursuant to Section 11205. For each subsequent violation, the traffic violator school shall have its license suspended immediately for six months and have its name removed from the department’s list. The violation shall be corrected before the traffic violator school license is reinstated and its name is reinstated on the department’s list.
(d)
(e) Paragraphs (3) and (6)
(7) and (10) of subdivision (a) do not apply to public schools or other public agencies, which shall also not be required to post a cash deposit pursuant to Section 11203.
(e)Paragraph (7)
(f) Paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), and (11) of subdivision (a) does
do not apply to public schools or other public educational institutions.
(f)
(g) A notice approved by the department shall be posted in every traffic violator school, branch, and classroom location, and prominently displayed on a home study or Internet internet program, stating that any person involved in the offering of, or soliciting for, a completion certificate for attendance at a traffic violator school program in which the person does not
attend or does not complete the minimum amount of instruction time may be guilty of violating Section 134 of the Penal Code.
(g)This section shall become operative on September 1, 2011.
SECTION 1.SEC. 2.
Section 11205 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:11205.
(a) The department shall provide a list of licensed traffic violator schools on its internet website. For each licensed(b) (1) The department shall require all licensees and applicants applicants, including owners and operators, to disclose, under penalty of perjury, if any traffic violator school they operate is affiliated with a group of affiliated schools. Any licensee that operates a traffic violator school that is affiliated with a group of affiliated schools shall provide the department with a
list of all affiliated schools in the group. they have an ownership in, are part of a corporation, legal partnership, or limited liability corporation relating to, are a corporate officer of, or have a financial ownership in another licensed traffic violator school in California.
(2) Any licensee that has or fails to disclose a relationship with another traffic violator school that is affiliated with a group of affiliated schools in California, as
described in paragraph (1), shall, for the first violation, after notice and hearing, have all traffic violator school licenses they hold suspended for a period of one year and the group of affiliated schools shall be removed from the list for a period of one year. be subject to a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each traffic violator school with which the licensee has a relationship as described in paragraph (1). For the second and any subsequent violation, the licensee, after notice and hearing, shall have all traffic violator school licenses they hold suspended for a period of five years and the group of affiliated schools shall be removed from the list for a period of five years.
be subject to a fine of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each traffic violator school with which the licensee has a relationship as described in paragraph (1).
(c)For purposes of subdivisions (a) and (b), a “group of affiliated schools” means two or more traffic violator schools that meet any of the following criteria:
(1)Are colocated at the same street address, or share a common physical space.
(2)Use a common computer network or server.
(3)Share employees, staff, or telephone services.
(4)Have a shared or common ownership, shared assets, shared revenue, or other shared financial interests.
(d)
(c) When a court or traffic assistance program (TAP) provides a hard copy list of licensed traffic violator schools to a traffic violator, the court or TAP shall provide only a current date-stamped list downloaded from the department’s internet website. The hard copy list shall be as current as practicable, but in no event shall a list be distributed with a date stamp that is more than 60 days old.
(e)
(d) The department shall develop a Web-based
web-based database that will enable the department, the courts, and traffic violator schools to monitor, report, and track participation and course completion. Traffic violator schools shall update course information within three business days of class completion and provide to the courts class completion information on a daily basis.
