MINUTES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION Sixty-eighth Session May 11, 1995 The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman William R. O'Donnell, at 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, May 11, 1995, in Room 226 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Senator William R. O'Donnell, Chairman Senator Maurice Washington, Vice Chairman Senator Lawrence E. Jacobsen Senator Jon C. Porter Senator Raymond C. Shaffer Senator O. C. Lee COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Senator Joseph M. Neal, Jr. (Excused) STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Don O. Williams, Chief Principal Research Analyst Diane Rea, Committee Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: Maddie Fischer, Secretary to Senator Mark James Phillip Galeoto, Lobbyist, Reno Police Department Donna Wadey-Howell, Acting Chief, Registration Division, Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety (DMV&PS) Tom Grady, Lobbyist, Nevada League of Cities Doug Dickerson, Lobbyist, City Manager's Office, City of Las Vegas Lynette Boggs, Assistant City Manager, City of Las Vegas Donald Cook, City Clerk, City of Reno Don Mello, Director, Administrative Office of the Courts, Supreme Court Senator O'Donnell opened the hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 397. SENATE BILL 397: Prohibits department of motor vehicles and public safety from requiring submission of certain information for renewal of special license plates for person with permanent disability which limits or impairs his ability to walk. (BDR 43-1040) Maddie Fischer, Secretary to Senator Mark James, testified on Senator James' behalf because he is unable to be present for the committee meeting. She said Senator James had been contacted by a constituent who is permanently disabled. The gentleman requested a law be drafted to exempt permanently disabled persons from a requirement of having to submit a physician's statement each time they have to apply for a renewal of their permanently disabled license plate. Phillip Galeoto, Lobbyist, Reno Police Department, testified he is in support of the bill and asked the committee to consider an amendment (Exhibit C). The City of Reno has a Citizens Disabled Advisory Committee that has worked on several issues, one of which is the handicap placard that is on the dashboard of the vehicle. Senator O'Donnell asked if the person has to go to the doctors office for the statement every year or every 2 years? Mr. Galeoto said he thinks it is every 2 years. If there is a complaint, the department investigates the person. Donna Wadey-Howell, Acting Chief, Registration Division, Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety (DMV&PS), testified the current process is, when somebody applies for a placard, a physician's statement is required for DMV&PS to issue the placard. DMV&PS is in the process of trying to develop a permanent disability status for such people as those who have lost legs or some similar disability that is not going to change. DMV&PS is going to have to have a regulation as to what permanent disability is. Senator O'Donnell stated that he is concerned about the abuse of the placard. Some people use a relative's handicap placard in a manner other than they are meant to be used. Ms. Fischer stated that Senator James' intent with the bill is to address people who truly do have a permanent disability. She said the intent is not to eliminate the person from having to apply for their permit, just to eliminate the need to have a certificate from a doctor. Senator O'Donnell stated that he feels there needs to be some language for the DMV&PS to adopt regulations for those types of situations, and to consider Mr. Galeoto's amendment. Senator Lee stated that he supports the concept, but he thinks for each handicap sticker issued there are three people using that sticker. He asked if something could be put on the sticker to indicate the person the sticker is issued to. Mrs. Howell stated that the problem is that the handicapped person could not easily get into DMV&PS's office, and the handicapped people do not want their picture showing people who they are. Senator Lee asked if the placard is issued to the handicapped person or to their family who has to transport them? Mrs. Howell replied that the placard is issued to the person who is handicapped, whether they own a vehicle or not. The card can be used by anyone transporting that handicapped person. Senator Lee asked about a wallet-size identification card for the handicapped person? Senator O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 397. Senator O'Donnell opened the hearing on S.B. 441. SENATE BILL 441: Prohibits department of motor vehicles and public safety from renewing registration of motor vehicle if fines for certain traffic violations have not been paid. (BDR 43-668) Tom Grady, Lobbyist, Nevada League of Cities, testified the bill is from the City of Reno. Many other cities are facing the same problems. He said that the bill drafters have contacted him saying that there is probably a need for an amendment because the bill does not handle parking tickets, and that is the original intent of the bill. They are preparing an amendment to handle this issue. He said that they feel there will be a positive impact on the cities. Doug Dickerson, Lobbyist, City Manager's Office, City of Las Vegas, testified that the bill needs to be amended to include civil parking fines. A suggested amendment is provided for the bill (Exhibit D). Lynette Boggs, Assistant City Manager, City of Las Vegas, testified one of the reasons for the amendment is the civil matter. She said the City of Las Vegas issues around 150,000 parking citations in a year's time. About 60 percent pay voluntarily. She said the city has hired a private collection agency to attempt to collect from the other 40 percent. She estimates approximately 20,000 cases could be turned over to DMV&PS if this bill is passed. Donald Cook, City Clerk, City of Reno, testified his department has taken over the collection of parking violations. When they took over the collection, the accounts were at about 66 percent of successful collections. They are now up to 77 to 80 percent collected. Estimated revenues of uncollected tickets are shown in a memo from 1993 (Exhibit E). Senator O'Donnell asked how much money is outstanding on collections? Mr. Cook stated that if 2 years of backlog were taken, per year there is approximately $300,000 to $350,000. Ms. Boggs said that Las Vegas has approximately three times that. They presently have $8.4 million in outstanding revenue from parking violations. Senator O'Donnell stated that if a person has to get their vehicle registered and finds out that they have to pay some fines off before they get their renewal sticker, these violations will be taken care of more easily. He said that if the DMV&PS is required to do these calculations, they are not going to do them for free. Ms. Howell stated that DMV&PS has had a request for a fiscal note for about 3 days and they are trying to collect the information to be able to come up with the revenue figures needed. The bill does allow DMV&PS to put an additional fee on to defray their costs. She said that her concern is the increase in the lines and the problems the technicians will run into because of the additional fines and fees that will be necessary. The changes to the computer will be impossible at this time. There will be a need for a couple of extra people to track the funds collected and the remitting of the funds to the cities or counties. She said a registration stop will have to be put on all those violators. Senator Lee asked if it is possible for the local entities to track the violators, and be given the ability to ship that information to DMV&PS, so DMV&PS will not have to do the tracking? Senator O'Donnell said that if someone had their car registered in Pahrump and got the tickets in Las Vegas there will be a problem in tracking them. Senator Lee asked if the local entities could run a check to find out where the vehicle is registered and notify that county of the violations. Ms. Boggs stated that currently that type of technology is available. Senator Washington asked how the information is transmitted from local entities to the DMV&PS? Ms. Boggs replied that when a person has a 30-day delinquency, they get a letter from the internal collection staff. After 90 days, the case is turned over to a private agency. If that case is still not collectable, at that point they would turn the case over to DMV&PS. Senator O'Donnell asked how much the City of Las Vegas is paying the collection agency? Ms. Boggs replied that they are being paid 16 percent. Senator O'Donnell asked how much they collect? Ms. Boggs replied the collection agency is estimated to be going to be able to collect $300,000 to $500,000 annually, because of the volume. Senator O'Donnell stated that for one-half a million dollars, the DMV&PS could do a nice job for the cities. Ms. Howell said the concern of the DMV&PS is the impact on the lines. She said that she needs to look at the numbers and see what kind of staff they will need to accomplish this. Mr. Cook said that should this bill come to passage, the cities will widely publicize the fact that the people who come to them will save the administrative fees and the fact that DMV&PS will be collecting these unpaid fines. Senator O'Donnell said that the entities for this bill need to get together and work out how this can be handled. Don Mello, Director, Administrative Office of the Courts, Supreme Court, testified that he has been given a directive by the money committees to insure three things in life are certain; death, taxes, and the collection of all fines and assessments. This bill parallels Bill Draft Request (BDR) 1-2008, which is to put DMV&PS in a collection mode. He said that all of the traffic measures can be included in this effort and there can be a lot of money collected by DMV&PS. He said he thinks 45 days is too long for the court to be informed of a citation against a person. He asked DMV&PS to submit their language to the courts for review to be sure the language is something that the courts can deal with. He submitted a memorandum from Robert Bell, Attorney At Law (Exhibit F). BILL DRAFT REQUEST 1-2008: Makes various changes to provisions governing collection of fines and assessments. Senator O'Donnell asked if all the other traffic measures are included, will the check for those charges be written to the DMV&PS or to the courts. Mr. Mello stated that he feels DMV&PS should be in a position to collect the fees, take their commission and submit the balance to the courts. Senator O'Donnell asked if the cities will accept the money minus 3.5 percent discount if a person used a credit card to pay these fines? Mr. Mello stated that is more than nothing. It needs to be kept as simple as possible for these people to pay. Senator O'Donnell said that he is willing to go back to the finance committee to get more money for DMV&PS to be able to get the staff to do this. Mr. Cook said that in his dealings with the state of California, it is his understanding that when the vehicle registration renewal is sent there is an itemized statement that indicates any fines to be paid. Mrs. Howell said DMV&PS is looking at having a data processing service come up with the programming for the tracking of these fines. Senator O'Donnell asked Mrs. Howell to figure how many people she will need to cover the needs for this program. Senator O'Donnell closed the hearing on S.B. 441. Senator O'Donnell opened the work session on S.B. 352. SENATE BILL 352: Revises provisions relating to documents required to be filed by vehicle dealer for transaction of business. (BDR 43-1326) Senator O'Donnell said this bill makes the federal law correspond to the state law. Ms. Howell testified that the DMV&PS is in support of this bill. Section one does not require a notary on DMV&PS's form, and section two allows DMV&PS to use a Dealer Reassignment Form, and allows them to charge for those forms. SENATOR WASHINGTON MOVED TO DO PASS S.B. 352. SENATOR JACOBSEN SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED. (SENATOR NEAL WAS ABSENT FOR THE VOTE.) * * * * * Senator O'Donnell adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: Diane C. Rea, Committee Secretary APPROVED BY: Senator William R. O'Donnell, Chairman DATE: Senate Committee on Transportation May 11, 1995 Page