(The Center Square) – A lowrider car bill buoyed by the support of California lawmakers was heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee Wednesday morning during one of the last hearings before the committee votes on it next week.
Assembly Bill 2541 would authorize lowrider specialized license plates.
Lowriders, or cars that have lowered frames and hydraulic systems that let the car move up and down over the wheel base, is a visual representation of pride for traditions that were never given space, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, D-Los Angeles and the bill’s author, testified during the meeting.
“It’s about the hand-painted details, the chrome, the color, the craftsmanship, that goes into it,” Gonzalez said. “It’s families passing down something that can’t be taught in a classroom. The truth is, the communities behind lowrider culture, especially Latino and Chicano communities, haven’t always gotten the investment that they truly deserve.”
The program is expected to generate enough revenue to cover the costs of producing the lowrider license plates and donate money back to the communities that participate in lowrider car culture, Gonzalez said.
According to a legislative analysis, the lowrider license plate program would cost the state roughly $300,000 annually to hire two full-time employees to manage the program and one part-time communications and public affairs specialist. There is currently no estimate for the amount of money the license plates could generate.
“The lowrider license plate bill provides a unique and much-needed revenue-generating opportunity during a time when school districts are undergoing massive and almost unmanageable budget cuts,” Kimberly Gudino, an adviser with Latino advocacy organization Brown Issues, testified in support of the bill. “Our community-based organizations are having to reduce services or discontinue them entirely. Tens of thousands of lowriders and everyday people are ready to put their dollar where their heart is – back into the communities where lowriding originated.”
According to a 2024 study published by Cambridge University Press, lowriding culture often involves painting a 1960s or 1970s model vehicle with a high-gloss multi-color paint, upholstering the interior with crushed velvet and chroming external metal surfaces (and sometimes the engine). The features also include a hydraulic suspension system typical of lowrider vehicles. High-amplification sound systems are often added to blare music.
Lowrider vehicles are also often used to assert identity and present a slow-moving cultural signal, the study asserts.
“This bill provides both my communities a great opportunity to come together to support art, culture and a sense of belonging,” Martin Ramirez, an educator and lowrider in Sacramento, testified. “Those are key elements that make lowriding what it is and who we are as Californians.”
Other bills to be voted on next week
Certain bills will be voted on in the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s next meeting, including some that come with a relatively hefty price tag.
Assembly Bill 1547, by Assemblymember Jasmeet Kaur Bains, D-Bakersfield, would authorize a feasibility study on establishing a branch campus of a University of California medical school in Kern County, costing the state’s taxpayers between $2.6 million and $3.6 million. That money would come from the general fund, according to a legislative analysis.
Two bills, which provide mortgage forbearance relief to those whose homes are unlivable because of a disaster, will also be voted on in the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s next meeting.
Another bill, Assembly Bill 1923, would allocate $300 million from the general fund to the Distressed Hospital Loan Program. Any type of hospital would be eligible to apply for portions of that money, a departure from the state’s current guidelines that only nonprofit hospitals are eligible for that program.
Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry’s medical debt relief bill, which would seek $2.5 million from the general fund to provide relief from medical debt for low- and middle-income Californians, is also slated for a vote next week.
Roughly 40 bills passed on the committee’s consent calendar, which lawmakers do when a bill is not controversial enough to warrant testimony or debate. The committee approved almost 300 other bills at the end of the meeting. Those bills are expected to be voted on in the committee’s next meeting, currently scheduled for May 13 and spanning issues from artificial intelligence to Medi-Cal eligibility and the state’s housing crisis.
