Specialized license plates: The Lowrider.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's implementation is contingent on receiving at least 7,500 applications by January 1, 2032.

Lowrider License Plate Program

This law creates a new type of license plate called 'The Lowrider' to support lowrider culture and heritage in California, provided at least 7,500 applications are received by January 1, 2032.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Arts Council to apply for sponsorship of The Lowrider specialized license plate.
• Directs the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to design The Lowrider plate with input from the Arts Council, ensuring it reflects lowrider culture and heritage.
• Involves the California Highway Patrol in checking if the design makes the plates hard to read.
• Establishes a new fund called the Lowrider Arts and Culture Fund using fees collected for these license plates after deducting administrative costs.
• Requires the Arts Council to use money from this fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support lowrider arts, cultural preservation efforts, youth engagement programs, public exhibitions, community-based cultural events, and educational initiatives.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be responsible for issuing these plates.
• The Arts Council will manage the fund and decide how to use the money collected from fees.
• People who want a Lowrider license plate must pay extra fees.

Terms To Know

Lowrider

A type of car that is modified to sit very low to the ground, often associated with a specific cultural and artistic movement in California.

Arts Council

An organization within the state government that supports arts and culture projects.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill requires at least 7,500 applications for The Lowrider plates by January 1, 2032, before it can be implemented.
• It is unclear how much money will actually be collected and used from the new fund.

Official Summary Text

AB 2541, as amended, Mark González.
Lowrider License Plate Program.
Specialized license plates: The Lowrider.
Existing law establishes a specialized license plate program and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue specialized license plates, also referred to as environmental license plates, on behalf of a sponsoring state agency if the agency receives 7,500 applications for that plate within a 12-month period, among other requirements. Existing law authorizes a person who is the registered owner or lessee of a vehicle to apply to the department for specialized license plates. Existing law imposes a fee, in addition to the regular registration fee, for the issuance, renewal, retention, transfer, and duplication of specialized license plates. Existing law requires that all revenue derived from these fees be deposited in the California Environmental License Plate Fund.
This bill would require the Arts Council to apply to the department to sponsor “The Lowrider” specialized license plate, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Arts Council, to design The Lowrider plate to reflect lowrider culture and heritage. The bill would require the department to work in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol to determine whether the design obscures the readability of the license plate. The bill would require the Arts Council to use the fees imposed for the issuance, renewal, or transfer of these specialized license plates, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund projects that include, among others, supporting lowrider arts and cultural preservation efforts.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California Legacy License Plate Program and to create and issue a series of specialized license plates that replicate license plates from the state’s past, if the department has received at least 7,500 paid applications for plates by a certain date. Existing law imposes additional fees for the issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer of these license plates and requires that those additional fees be deposited in the California Environmental License Plate Fund. Existing law also requires the department to design and make available for issuance special license plates with specified graphic designs, imposes additional fees for the issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer of these license plates, and requires those additional fee
revenues to be used for coastal conservancy, a preservation and restoration project in the Lake Tahoe area, and arts education and local arts programming of the Arts Council, among other special interests.
This bill would similarly require the department to establish the Lowrider License Plate Program and create and issue a series of specialized license plates, known as Lowrider Plates, if the department has received at least 7,500 paid applications for license plates by January 1, 2032. The bill would impose additional fees for the issuance, renewal, retention, transfer, and replacement of these license plates, and would require the department, after deducting its administrative costs, to deposit the remaining revenues into the Lowrider Arts and Culture Fund, which the bill would establish. The bill would require moneys in the fund to be available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Arts Council for the purpose of supporting lowrider arts, cultural preservation efforts, youth engagement programs, public exhibitions, community-based cultural events, and educational initiatives, as specified.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF