Vehicles: license plates: obstruction or alteration.

(1) Existing law prohibits a person from displaying upon a vehicle a license plate altered from its original markings. Existing law also prohibits a person from selling a product or device that obscures, or is intended to obscure, the reading or recognition of a license plate, as specified. A violation of these provisions is an infraction and the penalty for the first conviction of an infraction under the Vehicle Code is a fine not exceeding $100. This bill would additionally prohibit a person from selling a product or device that obscures, or is intended to obscure, the reading or recognition of a license plate by visual means. The bill would also prohibit a person from operating a vehicle with such a product or device and would make it a crime for a person to erase the reflective coating of, paint over the reflective coating of, or alter a license plate to avoid visual or electronic capture of the license plate or its characters by state or local law enforcement. By creating new crimes and expanding the definition of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that a violation of these prohibitions is punishable by a fine of not more than $250 per item sold or per violation and would provide that these offenses are subject to specified procedures with regard to a defendant electing to have the case proceed as a misdemeanor. (2) Existing law authorizes a prosecutor to file specified misdemeanors as infractions unless the defendant elects to have the case proceed as a misdemeanor, and authorizes the court, with the consent of the defendant, to determine that the offense is an infraction. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions by updating cross-references and deleting obsolete provisions. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5201 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 2679, to become operative if both AB 2679 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last. (4) 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.