Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton wants to eliminate California’s DMV as a stand-alone agency — and dramatically cut what drivers pay to register their cars.
Under Hilton’s “Califordable” proposal, the DMV would undergo a three-month audit, then routine registration, title and renewal services would move to counties and certified local service centers. A smaller state operation would remain for driver’s licenses, REAL ID, fraud prevention and safety records.
Hilton calls many state fees and charges “hidden taxes” and says the DMV has become a symbol of an expensive and unresponsive state government.
And here’s the number likely to get drivers’ attention: Hilton wants to cap annual vehicle registration at a flat $73. That’s currently just the basic registration component; California drivers also pay the vehicle license fee, CHP fee, transportation improvement fee and potentially local charges.
Vehicle registrations, renewals and titles would move to county offices and certified local service centers. Hilton says existing DMV offices would remain open until comparable in-person services were available nearby.
Surplus DMV properties could then be offered to community colleges and apprenticeship programs for job-training centers — or eventually sold.
Hilton calls the DMV a “miserable symbol” of bloated bureaucracy. His campaign estimates the fee overhaul would cut annual registration revenue from roughly $11 billion to $2.7 billion, with Hilton proposing to offset the lost revenue through government spending reductions.
But this is a campaign proposal, not current policy. Eliminating the stand-alone DMV and restructuring the fees would require action by the Legislature.
