Store Research
ASSEMBLY BILL 497 (VASCONCELLOS – 1971)
CHAPTER 363, STATUTES OF 1971, AB 497
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As enacted Assembly Bill 497 amended sections 12806, 13355, 13355.5, and 23105 of the Vehicle Code relating to driver’s licenses. (See Exhibit #1c) Assembly members Vasconcellos and Moretti introduced the bill on February 11, 1971 at the request of Dr. Avram Goldstein, Professor of Pharmacology, Stanford University School of Medicine. (See Exhibits #1a and #6, documents PE-2 and
PE-6)
Assembly Bill 497 was assigned to both the Assembly and Senate Committees on Transportation where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibits #3 and #2) The fiscal ramifications of the bill were considered by the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. (See Exhibit #2) One amendment was made to Assembly Bill 497 during the legislative process. (See Exhibits #1b and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Ronald Reagan signed the bill on July 21, 1971, and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on that day as Chapter 363 of the Statutes of 1971. (See Exhibits #1c and #2)
Assembly Bill 497 contained an urgency clause which caused the bill to go into immediate effect. (See Exhibit #1c) The reason for this urgency can be found in section 5 of Chapter 363. (Id. at page 730)
The Enrolled Bill Memorandum to Governor provides the following digest of Assembly Bill 497:
AB 497 provides that under specified conditions, an applicant for a driver’s license participating in an approved methadone maintenance treatment program may be issued a driver’s license and that such participation shall not be grounds for revoking or suspending his license.
(See Exhibit #6, document PE-2)