Vehicle identification and registration: alternative devices.

Existing law requires a vehicle to display a license plate, issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, with tabs that indicate the month and year the vehicle registration expires. Existing law authorizes the department to conduct a pilot program, until January 1, 2023, if certain conditions are met, to evaluate the use of alternatives to stickers, tabs, license plates, and registration cards. Under existing law, a person who alters, forges, counterfeits, or falsifies, among other things, a device issued pursuant to the pilot program, is guilty of a felony. This bill would require the department to establish a program authorizing an entity to issue alternatives to stickers, tabs, license plates, and registration cards under specified conditions that include, among others, approval of the alternative devices by the Department of the California Highway Patrol. The bill would make this authorization applicable to environmental license plates and specialized license plates displayed on an alternative device, as specified. The bill would allow the failure or malfunction of an alternative device to be deemed a correctable violation, as specified. The bill would require the provider of the device to build into the device a process for frequent notification if the device becomes defective and would require the provider to seek to replace defective devices as soon as possible. The bill would require an entity seeking approval to issue alternative devices or electronic vehicle registration cards to submit a business plan to the Department of Motor Vehicles, as specified. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to carry out the program, including establishing reasonable fees to reimburse the department for the costs of implementing the program, reporting requirements, and to determine standards necessary for the safe use of alternative products, and would extend the existing authorization for a pilot program described above until the effective date of those regulations. The bill would make alteration, forgery, counterfeit, or falsification of a device issued pursuant to these provisions a felony. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would generally prohibit an alternative device from being equipped with GPS or other vehicle location tracking capability, but would allow tracking technology to be installed on alternative devices used by specified vehicles, including fleet and commercial vehicles. The bill would generally prohibit an employer from using an alternative device equipped with tracking technology to monitor employees, except the bill would allow an employer to use an alternative device to locate, track, watch, listen to, or otherwise surveil an employee during work hours if strictly necessary for the performance of the employee's duties. The bill would require the employer to first notify the employee that monitoring will occur, as specified, and would allow an employee to disable the alternative device's monitoring capabilities, including vehicle location technology, outside of work hours. The bill would impose civil penalties for a violation of these requirements and authorize the issuance of citations, as prescribed. The bill would also prohibit retaliation against an employee by an employer or a person acting on the employer's behalf for disabling an alternative device's monitoring capabilities outside of work hours, and would authorize an employee to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner for a violation of that prohibition. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to, by no later than January 1, 2024, recall any alternative devices equipped with GPS or other tracking technology that have been issued, pursuant to the existing pilot program, to vehicles other than those specified vehicles, including fleet and commercial vehicles, for which GPS or other tracking technology is authorized. 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.