BILL NUMBER: SB 1317 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 26, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 27, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kehoe
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Sections 11200, 11202, 11208, 42005, and
42007.1of 42007.1 of , and to amend and repeal
Section 11205 of, the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1317, as amended, Kehoe. Vehicles: traffic violator schools.
(1) Existing law provides for the licensing and administration by
the Department of Motor Vehicles of traffic violator schools,
operators, and instructors and requires licensed traffic violator
schools to notify the court by posting on the department's Internet
Web-based database information regarding successful course
completion. A violation of these provisions is a crime.
Existing law requires the department to adopt standards for
traffic violator schools for each instructional modality.
This bill would prohibit the department from adopting regulations
that include provisions requiring traffic violator schools to provide
or process paper-based documents for the purpose of course
instruction evaluations by students.
(2) Existing law requires the department to provide a list of
licensed traffic violator schools on its Internet Web site .
Existing law also and requires
Internet Web-based and home study-based traffic violator
schools to update course information within 3 business days of class
completion and to provide to the courts
course completion information daily but allows
classroom-based traffic schools to submit copies of the certificates
of completion to the department to meet these requirements
.
This bill would require the classroom-based segment of the list to
include specified information and be organized in a specified
manner. The bill would require the department to make available for
download by a licensed traffic violator school, and as may be
required by a court, certain information regarding that school. The
bill would require all traffic violator schools to update course
information within 10 business days of class completion
and provide daily to the courts class
completion information on a daily basis .
The bill would also repeal an obsolete provision requiring the
department to publish semiannually a list of all licensed traffic
violator schools.
(3) Existing law requires the department to charge traffic
violator school owners, operators, and instructors fees for certain
traffic violator school program activities, including the issuance of
a branch or classroom location license. These fees are required to
be set to defray the actual cost to the department to administer the
traffic violator school program, except for routine monitoring of
instruction.
This bill would revise the activities for which the department is
authorized to impose certain of these fees to authorize the
department to charge fees instead for an approval for a branch office
or a classroom location or the renewal of an approved branch office
or current classroom location. The bill would require all of these
fees to be equal to the fees charged for the 2011-12 fiscal year,
except for the fee for the renewal of an approved
current classroom location would be required to be set at $50 per
year per location.
(4) Existing law requires the court to collect a single
administrative fee that is assessed a driver traffic violator who
attends traffic violator school, and requires the fee to include the
cost of routine monitoring of traffic violator school instruction.
This bill would instead require the amount of the administrative
fee assessed and collected by the court to be set by the department
at an amount sufficient to defray the actual costs to the department
to administer the provisions regulating the traffic school violator
program, except for the costs defrayed by the fees authorized for
specific department activities described in (3) above.
(5) The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by
creating new crimes.
(6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The Department of Motor Vehicles maintains and supports the
licensing needs of over 20 million licensed drivers.
(b) Licensed drivers who receive traffic violations can be
ordered or permitted to attend a traffic violator school either
through the Internet, home, or classroom based instruction. While
Internet Web-based courses are convenient, not everyone has access to
the Internet.
(c) A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 26
percent of adults 18 years of age and older do not use or do not have
access to the Internet. Minority groups and persons over 65 years of
age make up a higher percentage of those without access to the
Internet.
(d) The classroom-based traffic violator school offers a program
of instruction in traffic safety to California drivers with no
Internet access, through the Department of Motor Vehicles approved
classroom locations in various cities throughout the state, commonly
located at convenient meeting rooms within hotels or community
centers.
(e) The costs associated with providing these classroom options to
the driving public should be borne by the traffic violators, using a
fee collected by the courts and remitted to the Department of Motor
Vehicles.
(f) The amount of the administrative fees imposed on
classroom-based instruction should be fair and take into
consideration the effects these fees may have on reducing the number
of classes. Fewer classroom locations will result in fewer options
for California's drivers who require or need classroom-based traffic
school instruction.
SEC. 2. Section 11200 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
11200. (a) The department shall license traffic violator schools
for purposes of Section 41501 or 42005 and to provide traffic safety
instruction to other persons who elect to attend. A person may not
own or operate a traffic violator school or, except as provided in
Section 11206, give instruction for compensation in a traffic
violator school without a currently valid license issued by the
department.
(b) (1) A person who elects to attend a traffic violator school
shall receive from the traffic violator school and shall sign a copy
of the following consumer disclosure statement prior to the payment
of the school fee and attending the school:
"Course content is limited to traffic violator curricula approved
by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Students in the classroom
include traffic offenders, repeat traffic offenders, adults, and
teenagers, and those who have and those who have not been referred by
a court. Instructor training, business regulatory standards, and
Vehicle Code requirements of traffic violator schools are not equal
to the training, standards, and Vehicle Code requirements of licensed
driving schools (California Vehicle Code Section 11200(b)(1))."
(2) In the case of a minor who elects to attend a traffic violator
school, the minor's parent or guardian shall sign the consumer
disclosure statement.
(3) A copy of each signed disclosure statement shall be retained
by the traffic violator school for a minimum of 36 months.
(c) New and modified departmental regulations necessitated by this
section shall be adopted and effective no later than September 1,
2011.
(d) A licensed traffic violator school shall notify the court by
posting on the department's Internet Web-based database established
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 11205 information regarding
successful course completions.
(e) A licensed traffic violator school shall give every person who
attends the school for purposes of Section 41501 or 42005, upon
successful completion of the lesson plan and passage of the
postlesson knowledge test, a receipt indicating successful
completion. The receipt shall include contact information, including
the name of the traffic violator school, address of the school's
business location, name of the course instructor if classroom based,
telephone number, email address if appropriate, hours of operation,
and any other information that may be used to confirm course
completion.
(f) This chapter does not abrogate or limit the inherent powers of
a court to order a traffic violator to attend and complete a traffic
violator school program of any length or duration, as determined by
the court to be reasonable under the circumstances of the case before
it, except that a conviction shall be held confidential by the
department only as permitted under Section 41501 or 42005.
SEC. 3. Section 11202 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
11202. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a traffic
violator school owner shall meet all of the following criteria before
a license may be issued for the 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.
(2) (A) Conform to the standards established by regulation of the
department.
(B) 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.
(C) Unless expressly authorized by statute, the department shall
not adopt regulations pursuant to this chapter that include
provisions requiring traffic violator schools to provide or process
paper-based documents for the purpose of course instruction
evaluations by students.
(3) 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) Have the proper equipment necessary for giving instruction to
traffic violators.
(5) 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) (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 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 established
place of business.
(7) (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) 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) Provide the department with a written assurance that the
school will comply with the applicable provisions of Subchapter II or
III of the federal 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.
(d) Paragraphs (3) and (6) 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) of subdivision (a) does not apply to public
schools or other public educational institutions.
(f) 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 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.
SEC. 4. Section 11205 of the Vehicle Code, as added by Section 5.5
of Chapter 599 of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read:
11205. (a) The department shall provide a list of licensed
traffic violator schools on its Internet Web site. For each licensed
school, the list shall indicate the modalities of instruction offered
and specify the cities and counties where classroom instruction is
offered. The sequential listing of licensed schools shall be
randomized daily. The classroom-based segment of the list shall
include all of the following:
(1) The name of each traffic violator school.
(2) A telephone number used for student information.
(3) The county and the cities where classes are available.
(b) Each traffic violator school owner shall be permitted one
school name in a judicial district.
(c) The classroom-based segment of the list shall be organized
alphabetically in sections for each county.
(d) (1) When a court or traffic assistance program (TAP) provides
a hard copy list of traffic violator schools licensed by the
department to a traffic violator, the court or TAP shall provide only
a current date-stamped list downloaded from the department's
Internet Web site. 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. The data to be included on the
hard copy list shall be the same as that specified in paragraphs (1)
to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a).
(2) The department shall also make available, for easy download by
a licensed traffic violator school, and as may be required by a
court, data that includes that traffic violator school's license
number, name, primary business office address, primary telephone
number, and classroom location addresses, if any.
(3) The data for downloading should be presented by the department
in the form of a comma-separated value formatted file.
(4) The department may use and assign authorization codes and
passwords for the purpose of limiting unrestricted access to this
proprietary data.
(e) The department shall, by April 1, 2012, develop an Internet
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 10 business days of class completion and provide
to the courts class completion information on a daily basis.
SEC. 5. Section 11205 of the Vehicle Code, as amended by Section
456 of Chapter 931 of the Statutes of 1998, is repealed.
SEC. 6. Section 11208 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
11208. (a) The department shall charge fees in the amount
specified in subdivision (b), for the following traffic violator
school program activities:
(1) Original issuance of either, or both, of the following:
(A) A traffic violator school owner, operator, or instructor
license.
(B) An approval for a branch office or a classroom location.
(2) Renewal of either, or both, of the following:
(A) A traffic violator school owner, operator, or instructor
license.
(B) An approved branch office or a classroom location.
(3) Issuance of either a duplicate or corrected traffic violator
school owner, operator, or instructor license, or for a duplicate or
corrected copy of a branch office or classroom location approval.
(4) Transfer of an operator or instructor license from one traffic
violator school to another.
(5) Approval of curriculum, based on the instructional modality of
the curriculum.
(6) Fees for administering the examinations pursuant to Sections
11206 and 11207.
(b) The amount of fees for the activities authorized under
subdivision (a) shall be equal to the amount determined by the
department pursuant to this section, as it read on January 1, 2012,
for the 2011-12 fiscal year, except for the fee for the renewal of an
approved current classroom locations which shall be set at fifty
dollars ($50) per year per location.
(c) A single administrative fee shall be assessed against and
collected by the court pursuant to Section 42007.1 from each traffic
violator who is ordered or permitted to attend a traffic violator
school. Included in this fee shall be an amount determined by the
department to be sufficient to defray the actual costs to the
department to administer this chapter, except for the costs defrayed
by the fees authorized by subdivision (a).
(d) For purposes of this section, "approved current classroom
location" means a classroom location that received original approval
from the department, which was listed on the classroom-based school's
most recent classroom renewal application, or any new classroom
location subsequently added by the classroom-based school and
approved by the department prior to the school's next renewal
application.
SEC. 7. Section 42005 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
42005. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, after a
deposit of the fee under Section 42007 or bail, a plea of guilty or
no contest, or a conviction, a court may order or permit a person who
holds a noncommercial class C, class M1, or class M2 driver's
license who pleads guilty or no contest or is convicted of a traffic
violation to attend a traffic violator school licensed pursuant to
Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 11200) of Division 5.
(b) Pursuant to Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the
court may not order or permit a person who holds a class A, class B,
or commercial class C driver's license to complete a licensed traffic
violator school, in lieu of adjudicating any traffic offense or
order that a conviction of a traffic offense by a person holding a
class A, class B, or commercial class C driver's license be kept
confidential.
(c) The court shall not order that a conviction of an offense be
kept confidential according to Section 1808.7 or permit a person,
regardless of the driver's license class, to complete a program at a
licensed traffic violator school in lieu of adjudicating an offense
if either of the following applies to the offense:
(1) It occurred in a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in
subdivision (b) of Section 15210.
(2) Is a violation of Section 20001, 20002, 23104, 23105, 23140,
23152, or 23153, or of Section 23103, as specified in Section
23103.5.
(d) A person ordered to attend a traffic violator school pursuant
to subdivision (a) may choose the traffic violator school the person
will attend. The court or the court's representative
shall provide to each person subject to that order or
referral the department's current list of licensed traffic violator
schools available and printed pursuant to Section 11205.
(e) A person who willfully fails to comply with a court order to
attend traffic violator school is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(f) This section does not abrogate or limit the inherent powers of
a court to order a traffic violator to attend and complete a traffic
violator school program of any length or duration, as determined by
the court to be reasonable under the circumstances of the case before
it, except that a conviction shall be held confidential by the
department only as permitted under Section 41501 or 42005.
SEC. 8. Section 42007.1 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
42007.1. (a) The amount collected by the clerk pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 42007 shall be in an amount equal to the
total bail set forth for the eligible offense on the uniform
countywide bail schedule plus a forty-nine-dollar ($49) fee, and a
fee, as specified in subdivision (c) of Section 11208, determined by
the department to be sufficient to defray the actual costs to the
department of administering Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section
11200) of Division 5, and a fee, if any, established by the court
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 11205.2 to defray the costs
incurred by a traffic assistance program.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 42007, the revenue
from the forty-nine-dollar ($49) fee collected under this section
shall be deposited in the county general fund. Fifty-one percent of
the amount collected under this section and deposited into the county
general fund shall be transmitted therefrom monthly to the
Controller for deposit in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account of
the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, established in Section
70371.5 of the Government Code.
(c) The fee assessed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 11208
shall be allocated to the department to defray the actual costs to
the department of administering Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section
11200) of Division 5.
SEC. 9. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.