Vehicles: emergency contact locator database.

Existing law imposes specified requirements on manufacturers of motor vehicles sold or leased in this state. Existing law requires hospitals to make reasonable efforts to contact the agent, surrogate, or family of patients who are otherwise incapable of communication. This bill would enact the "Motor Vehicle Emergency Contact Locator Act of 2015" and would require a vehicle identification number emergency contact locator database to be established by motor vehicle manufacturers in conjunction with law enforcement agencies and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. This bill would require a motor vehicle manufacturer of a new motor vehicle sold or leased in this state on or after January 2, 2016, with a 2017 model year or later, to provide a means by which a purchaser or lessee of a new motor vehicle can voluntarily designate at the original retail point of sale an emergency contact to be stored in the VinECON database. The bill would require the emergency contact information to be made available electronically only to authorized law enforcement and would require law enforcement personnel, when practicable, to expeditiously provide any VinECON data, either verbal or written, to the emergency department of a general acute care hospital receiving a motor vehicle crash victim who is unconscious or otherwise incapable of communication, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties upon local agencies. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.