If any identification certificate or identification plate or device is stolen, lost, mutilated or illegible, the owner of the vehicle for which the same was issued, as shown by the records of the department, shall immediately make application for and may, upon furnishing information satisfactory to the department, obtain a duplicate or substitute or a new identification under a new number, as determined to be most advisable by the department. An application for a duplicate identification certificate is not required in conjunction with any other application.
Ca. Veh. Code § 38090