(a) The University of California is requested to conduct a study on motor vehicle registration fraud and failure to register a motor vehicle. The study shall include all of the following:

(1) Quantification of the magnitude of the problem.

(2) The strategies being used by motorists to commit motor vehicle registration fraud.

(3) The reasons for the behaviors of motorists who commit fraud in registration of, or who fail to register, their motor vehicles.

(4) The costs to the state and local governments in lost revenues.

(5) Increases in air pollution.

(6) Other costs and consequences of these behaviors.

(7) Recommended strategies for increasing compliance with registration requirements.

(b) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall enter into an agreement with the University of California to share its vehicle registration information with the University of California researchers for the purposes of conducting the study. The Department of the California Highway Patrol shall share information on its efforts to combat registration fraud, including the CHEATERS program, with the University of California researchers who are conducting the study.

(c) The University of California is requested to post a report of the study on its Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2018.

(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends that date.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 776, Sec. 2. (SB 773) Effective January 1, 2017. Repealed as of January 1, 2021, by its own provisions.)