But Californians need not rely on anecdotes to confirm their hunch. California State Auditor Elaine Howle last month released an audit that confirms the abuse-racked nature of the Department of Motor Vehicles’ disability parking system. The auditor sampled 96 applications for disability placards and plates and found that 70 of the applications lacked sufficient information to confirm that the applicant was really qualified for the permit.

Furthermore, Howle found that 26,000 placard holders were older than 100, even though the state’s entire population of centenarians is 8,000. The DMV does little double-checking and authorizes few sting operations to catch cheaters. It hands out multiple replacement placards for “lost” placards. Nine people, the auditor explained, received 16 or more replacements over a three-year period and two received more than 20.

The DMV “has not canceled permanent placards for thousands of individuals who are likely deceased,” according to the audit. “In addition, local parking enforcement lacks immediate access to DMV’s placard information, limiting its ability to verify placards during its enforcement activities.” And obviously sworn law-enforcement agencies have better things to do with their time than policing placards. The auditor suggests the creation of a DMV database to facilitate enforcement, and that it work with health boards to be sure applicants meet disability standards.

There’s a strong incentive for people to game the system. Disability placards not only allow people to park near the front of a store, but they allow them to park free in metered spaces for unlimited periods of time. For people who work in downtown areas, this amounts to free commuter parking every day – something that can be worth hundreds of dollars a month. There are fines and even misdemeanor penalties for cheating, but there’s little enforcement.

The report also details how the privilege has expanded over time. “In 1959 the Legislature gave those needing the aid of a wheelchair or who had lost the use of both legs the right to park for an unlimited time in zones with time limits,” according to the auditor. Then the Legislature included “those who had lost the use of one or both legs or who needed the aid of a mechanical device” and then “legs” was expanded to “limbs.” Many other disabilities were added including lung disease and legal blindness.

Other states have put limits on the placards, but disability rights activists in California have generally opposed reform proposals. They don’t want to see any genuinely disabled people denied a placard, but critics note that the abuse of the system, as documented by the auditor, serves to undermine the public’s support for the program and sympathy for those who really need them. It leads to frustration and antagonistic feelings toward those who park in these spots and could eventually cause a backlash.

The situation is reminiscent of a newly publicized phenomenon – the misuse of “service animal” designations so that some people can, apparently, bring along their pet dogs (or cats or bunnies) to restaurants, airplane cabins other places that otherwise forbid them. News reports point to online applications for “emotional support” animals – and lenient standards that allow your regular-old Pomeranian to be declared a service dog.

Many of the auditor’s parking recommendations could apply to service dogs and other areas where people game a system designed to help the disabled or needy. The DMV doesn’t disagree with these recommendations, either. They involve better databases, more double-checking of applications, purging the system of the deceased, adding fees, increasing sting operations, hiking penalties for cheating and coming up with different categories of benefit.

The auditor also suggests that the DMV establish “a process to review medical provider signatures.” Most of the auditor’s suggestions involved the DMV, but there’s a role for the Legislature, also. “To assist DMV in more accurately identifying deceased individuals with active permanent placards, the Legislature should amend state law to require DMV to use the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Death Master File to inform its efforts to identify and cancel deceased individuals’ placards,” the audit suggested.

It’s probably wrong, however, to put too much blame on the DMV, given that the bulk of its efforts involve processing licenses and registrations – not policing the potential bad behavior of so many Californians. Indeed, one might chalk this problem up to a general failure in public morals, as people increasingly see these special-benefit programs as systems to be gamed rather than as a means to help those who really need the help.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.

“The commercial side of the DMV is so backlogged that if you finished your truck driving courses today, you’d have to wait 56 business days for an appointment to take your driver’s license test,” according to the office of Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno. Would-be truck drivers have contacted him for help, complaining people will camp outside the DMV overnight to be able to get a place in line and get their test taken.

The DMV recently disputed the long wait times, telling a local TV station its Fresno office is offering appointments within six days. This contradicts the response received by Patterson’s office, who were told of eight-week waits, excepting occasional last-minute appointment openings.

The director of the Fresno Department of Transportation sent a corroborating letter to Assemblyman Patterson noting similar challenges the city’s bus service faced over the past two years navigating new drivers through the DMV process.

“In November 2016, the delays were so long that the department sent drivers to Sacramento,” wrote Fresno Department of Transportation Director Brian Marshall. “The department paid wages and overnight lodging for 15 drivers.” Only two drivers, however, were able to get tested, even after making the trek to Sacramento.

Marshall supports new legislation, authored by Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez, D-Pomona, and co-authored by Patterson, allowing third-party testing of drivers. The state currently accepts third-party testing and licensing in a variety of areas. For instance, Californians can handle many DMV functions at American Automobile Association offices, while Realtors are tested and licensed through quick third-party processes.

In an interview Tuesday, Patterson said the DMV had not made significant progress on the issue until legislators introduced Assembly Bill 301. This legislation “seeks to reduce the severe backlog in availability of commercial Driver’s License (CDL) skills test appointments at the DMV by expanding current law to allow additional third parties, including training schools and government entities, to conduct skills tests,” according to the legislative fact sheet. Unions would be authorized to offer the tests, as well as municipalities and independent schools.

Patterson says the DMV’s current efforts to reduce wait times to four weeks is still unacceptable. “There are 30,000 unfilled trucking driving jobs in this state,” he said. “People are begging to get their licenses so they can go to work. We need to do everything we can to make sure that happens.”

The assemblyman indicated the gravity of this statewide problem. According to June DMV self-reporting data, wait times were approximately 50 days to get an appointment in Arleta, Fresno, Fremont, Ukiah and Lancaster. According to the fact sheet, “wait times in California ranged from a minimum of 19 business days before the next available appointment, to a high of 61 business days. In December 2016, 17 of the state’s 23 locations that provide CDL skills tests had wait times longer than three weeks with the longest wait being in Montebello at 65 business days, or 13 weeks.”

The legislation points to a nationwide truck-driving shortage, which is why 39 other states allow some form of third-party commercial-truck license tests. Under the bill, the DMV would have the authority to approve the private testing sites.

Critics of the current DMV process are concerned about the implications for would-be drivers, who can’t always afford to wait two months before they get started on the job. And then there are the taxpayer implications, as the Fresno transportation situations makes clear. Simply stated, taxpayers are paying drivers, who can’t work until they get through the licensing process, along with the cost implications for firms that rely on commercial truck drivers.

The DMV on February 22 dedicated a new truck-test center in Gardena that “will conduct approximately 7,000 drive tests and process 4,000 commercial driver licenses related applications annually. The office is staffed with 23 employees,” according to the agency’s statement. That may help reduce the backlog in parts of Southern California by consolidating operations that were spread around the region, although the legislation’s backers argue third-party testing offers more hope for quickly fixing the statewide problem – and that using third-party vendors is less costly for taxpayers than creating new centers.

The DMV said that it doesn’t comment on pending legislation and didn’t directly address the specific problems raised by Assemblyman Patterson. “The DMV noticed a higher volume of Commercial Driver License applicants requesting appointments to take the behind-the-wheel skills test,” the agency said. “As a result, on Jan. 7, 2017, the DMV began offering Saturday appointments only to individuals wanting to take this specific exam at nine locations across the state,” it added in response to CalWatchdog’s questions. “The DMV strives to offer commercial drive test exams to our customers within 30 days of making an appointment.”

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. He is based in Sacramento. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.

DMV meltdown latest IT issue in the state

Good morning! One of the first thoughts we had this morning as we sat down to type this: We can’t believe it’s November already.

But November it is, which means the election will soon be behind us. You know what probably won’t be behind us? The state government’s IT issues, which are even more remarkable considering this is the home to Silicon Valley, and is widely considered the global leader in innovative technology.

On Friday, the California Department of Motor Vehicles reported things were close to normal after a chaotic week of mass computer failures, with just three DMV offices still offline. At one point early last week, more than 120 of the the DMV’s 188 offices statewide were unable to handle such basic tasks as processing requests for new licenses or vehicle registrations.

Both the DMV’s main computer and its primary backup computer suffered what officials called “meltdowns.” In post mortems on the problem, experts outside state government expressed disbelief that both the main and backup computer were directly connected and housed in the same room, making both susceptible to the same risks from overheating, hacking and other problems.

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• “The California National Guard can’t locate more than 4,000 of the 9,700 soldiers caught up in the military enlistment bonus scandal that has rocked one of the nation’s largest Guard organizations, according to its commander.” The Los Angeles Times has more.

• “Meet the unopposed Assembly candidate who says climate change is a good thing that hurts ‘enemies on the equator,'” writes the Los Angeles Times.

• “The western United States set records for low winter snowpack levels in 2015, and a new report blames high temperatures rather than low precipitation levels, according to a new study.” The San Jose Mercury News has more.

• “Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to turn to a San Francisco-based consultant and former confidant of rival Gavin Newsom to help guide his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, as he seeks to make inroads outside of Southern California,” reports Politico. 

Legislature:

• Gone till December. 

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced.  

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New follower: @totalcapitol

Rules on driverless cars tick off industry

Good morning and Happy Halloween. Today’s newsletter is totally free of news about Hillary Clinton’s emails. Instead, we begin with innovation and regulation — nothing more California than that. 

Hopes that California would emerge as the global center for what eventually could be a multitrillion-dollar industry — self-driving vehicles — have taken a step back.

New proposed rules unveiled this month by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles drew sharp complaints from the leading companies in the field — Google, General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Honda — as being far too onerous and certain to slow innovation. They are among 18 firms with licenses to test autonomous vehicles in California.

A nascent industry group — The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, whose members include Lyft, Uber Technologies and Volvo — released a statement that the rules “could greatly delay the benefits that self-driving vehicles can bring to safety and mobility for individuals.”

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• Bad news for Republicans: “More than 2.5 million Californians already have voted by mail, and Republican returns statewide are down about 1.4 percent from 2012, according to Political Data Inc., the voter data firm used by both Republicans and Democrats in California. Democrats, meanwhile, were exceeding their 2012 turnout at this point by two-tenths of a percent,” reports Politico.

• More bad news for Republicans: “Perhaps the starkest view of the party’s problems comes from a poll last week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. In short, the Republican brand has become radioactive. Of the state’s likely voters, 72 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the GOP. That’s eight points higher than two years ago, 14 points worse than four years ago and a massive 21 points above the party’s unfavorable rating six years ago. And then there’s this: 50 percent of registered Republicans have an unfavorable opinion of their party.” The Los Angeles Times has more.

• Non-Republican news: “Businesses in California were given state tax breaks worth about $2.67 billion over the past two decades, with more than half the money going to two sectors of the economy – those trading in war and circus.” The Orange County Register has more. 

• If voters legalize recreational pot, how will that work with federal laws? The Los Angeles Times answers that question. 

Legislature:

• Gone till December. 

Gov. Brown:

• In San Francisco at a breakfast benefit of the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service.

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New follower: @barbsolish

Farm worker OT bill awaits verdict from Gov. Brown

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. But more importantly, happy second-to-last day of the legislative session.

A big ticket item was crossed off the list Monday when a bill expanding overtime pay for farm workers passed the Assembly. It now heads to the governor for a final verdict.

The bill would, over the course of a few years, bring the overtime structure for farm workers in line with that of many other professions by giving overtime past eight hours in a day, where currently the threshold is at 10 hours, and over 40 hours in a week, where it’s currently at 60 hours.

Some members opposed on procedural grounds. Assembly rules prohibit a measure from being reintroduced if it had already been defeated during that legislative session — the same measure was defeated in the Assembly earlier this year.

CalWatchdog has more.

In other news:

• “An Aug. 17 California appeals court ruling rejected a public employee union’s claim that its members had a right to “pension spiking,” which the court described as “various stratagems and ploys to inflate their income and retirement benefits.” Public employees often will pad their final salary total with vacation leave, bonuses and “special pay” categories to inflate the pension benefits they receive for the rest of their lives,” reports CalWatchdog.
• “State lawmakers passed a bill Monday to add mandatory prison sentences for certain sexual assaults – a measure inspired by a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge’s decision not to sentence a Stanford University student to prison in a high-profile case this year,” writes the Los Angeles Times.
• “California lawmakers’ response to the controversial series of videos that purported to show Planned Parenthood breaking the law has alienated some liberal allies of the organization, which is now negotiating changes to save its bill in the final days of the session,” writes The Sacramento Bee.
• “The state’s plan to build an initial stretch of high-speed rail line, from San Jose to a map point in the midst of Central Valley farmland, came under renewed attack at an oversight hearing Monday,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

• Who will Gov. Jerry Brown believe: the Mothers Against Drunk Driving or his own Department of Motor Vehicles? Brown will have to choose when deciding whether to sign Senate Bill 1046, a measure that would require drivers convicted of DUI to purchase and install “ignition interlock” devices in their vehicles. CalWatchdog has more.

Assembly:

• In at 10 a.m.

Senate:

• In at 2 p.m.

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced for today. Will attend 20th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Wednesday.

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New followers: @elmayedda