Drive targets out-of-state (CA) plates

[question everything]

SACRAMENTO – The California Highway Patrol has started a major crackdown on state residents illegally driving vehicles with out-of-state plates.

The agency officially kicked off its license plate sting yesterday, asking motorists to jot down suspicious tags and enter them into an anonymous CHP Web site. Commissioner D.O. "Spike" Helmick estimated that the state could collect up to $10 million in additional revenue if the project succeeds.

(snip)

California laws require residents to register cars and trucks with the Department of Motor Vehicles within 20 days of establishing residency and getting a job. But many Californians register vehicles in other states with cheaper fees – especially Oregon – while living and working in California.

(snip)

Under the crackdown, the CHP will use a nationwide computer system to track down licenses reported on the Web site and send letters to the registrants demanding payment of overdue fees.


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040421/news_1n21license.html

[dArKeR]

1. Disgraceful and so Ah-no. Fascist little snitch. I can imagine Ah-no

the one who turns in his family to the Nazis for a chocolate bar.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pinniped]

3. How does the mere presence of out of state plates make one "suspicious"?

Are we supposed to follow them around for 20 days?

I think we're better off reporting non-stop black smoke spewing exhaust pipe mobiles to 1.800.EXHAUST

Why is the CHP who are entrusted with public highway safety encouraging us to write and drive at the same time?

Last year in traffic school the instructor told us not to do anything other than concentrate on driving. Even fumbling with the radio was bad.

[Piperay]

4. No...

you aren't supposed to follow them around but if you have a neighbor that has lived next to you for years and has plates other than CA ones then are the ones they want turned in. CA feels it is being deprived of alot of money by people getting licensed in other states where they are paying less thereby shorting the state (CA) where they really live.

[NuttyFluffers]

5. i've noticed a huge run of out-of-state licenses

i was wondering about it too. it doesn't really make sense, the economy is really depressed, far behind the rest of the country. also some of the licenses would have some explaining to do. hawaii, alaska, vermont, new hampshire, south carolina and other states very far from CA were showing up with regularity. and the cars weren't like family vehicles for the summer trip (noticing it ain't summer either). often they were spotlessly clean - inside and out, often quite new models, filled with 1 passenger on average, and several were of such poor fuel economy it'd be economic suicide to cross the entire continent on one (let alone in the middle of this the highest gas prices we've seen).

it just didn't ring right. but now i'm beginning to understand. something fishy is going on, probably a crime ring.

it does sound draconian, but remember, unless you lived here you wouldn't have noticed any trends. i was having several conversations with others about this before and we were baffled. but now the CHP is involved things are starting to make sense. probably freepers trying to get around paying registration. they're still all pissy from gray davis' car reg increase. wouldn't surprise me they are still rebelling, even though ahhnold lowered the fees ASAP. the correlation to 'assholemobiles' (you know what they are...) and foreign license plates were starting to stand out.

poor legit travelers... if people just didn't ruin things others wouldn't have to suffer...

[hyphenate]

9. I couldn't register my car

in California for a long while, because the f**king rates to register and insure it were preposterous. My old Granada, at one point, wasn't worth the $1200 they wanted for insurance coverage FOR SIX MONTHS. I guess you could consider me one of those "criminals" because I couldn't get anywhere WITHOUT my car, but couldn't afford to make it legitimate.

Thankfully, I'm out of the fascist state of California. I had two heart attacks in California, and couldn't get considered disabled. I went to the Welfare office and they told me they would pay my one way fare out of California if I wanted to leave. They wouldn't give me Medi-cal because I wasn't DISABLED. Fuck that. I couldn't walk across a room without having to take a nitroclycerin tablet and I wasn't "disabled?" That's total complete bullshit. I told the idiot social worker that if I had been a teenager walking in pregnant that they'd give her Medi-cal, just like my sister the drug addict and alcoholic, or my brother-in-law who smokes a full 2 packs a day and is also an alcoholic, but no, I wasn't disabled with coronary artery disease.

California is so fucked up in so many ways, and I am just so glad I don't EVER have to live there again.

[Peter1x9]

11. That state is pathetic.

I moved out of California 4 years ago and never looked back. The only thing I miss about it is the weather. :p

[newyawker99]

23. Hi Peter1x9!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[radwriter0555]

13. it's your DOCTOR who declares you DISABLED, not the state.

Might wanna make that real clear.

Don't blame the state for NOT declaring you 'disabled'when your doctor wouldn't? Since when is a SOCIAL WORKER a Medical doctor?

A little personal responsibility goes a long way.

[hang a left]

16. Thank you 0555

By the way, I love living in So California, been here my whole life.

[hyphenate]

18. Yes,

I know that. The point was I couldn't afford to GO to a doctor. I didn't have insurance, my own ran out like three months previous (in time to take care of the first heart attack, BTW), and if they had asked that I see a doctor to verify it, I would have been MORE than happy to do so. I wasn't working, and wasn't able to collect unemployment. Catch 22, see a doctor to prove something, can't afford to go to prove it. And BTW, my old doctors would have been HAPPY to declare me disabled. But it costs FUCKING money to get photocopies of health records in California, where in most states IT DOES NOT.

And you're right---when IS a social worker a doctor? Hmmmmmmm?

As far as personal responsibility is concerned, why is it that alcoholics, drug addicts and promiscuous teens can get Medi-cal, but someone with a true HEALTH problem can't? And it's the STATE, not anything else. Massachusetts at the very least has a health care program for people who can't afford to get any kind of insurance. It's one of the reasons an all-encompassing and universal health care program is needed in this country.

[NuttyFluffers]

19. nah, won't consider you criminal

i know the pain about insurance rates here, it's pretty bad. i have to pay at least $2000 a year by *any* insurance company to get insured so i can legally drive.

though i don't find the DMV registration rates that bad. heck it was only $70 dollars for me. might be higher than most states, but we have a very expensive economy in CA, it's kinda expected.

what i can't stand is how insurance companies and other companies totally worked over this state with basically 25 years of GOP governors since reagan. quackenbush should be in jail for letting the insurance companies off from their responsibilities in the North Ridge quake. all they had to do was donate to his future campaign. that and other legislation and deregulation that happened under those foolish governors. totally destroyed this state. i can comfortably lay at the feet the GOP the problems you faced in CA - they've chipped away at so much that was good here. heck, in 1960s CA was a powerhouse and the ideal of the world. now... those bastards.

and i'd love to live without a car, but once again the politics against mass transit stop that. and emphasis on road construction in Southern California instead of fairly distributing it throughout the state causes problems too. i actively blame the power politics under the dimwitted GOP governors we had.

and look, guess what? we have another one...

[question everything]

6. Was more of an issue 10 years ago

when we had to pay $300 a car for "smog impact" and this, after paying a Florida $300 a car for another "impact." Clearly these were not real impact fees as they were not refunded for residents leaving the states.

Thankfully, both fees were challenged in lengthly court battles and refunded, but one had to have kept all the records and to know about these refunds.

[truthspeaker]

7. they use the snitch program in Minnesota too

Lots of people register their cars in Wisconsin because Wisconsin, like 40 or so other sensible states, has a flat annual registration fee. Minnesota has a variable fee depending on the make & model of the car and how old it is (ostensibly tied to the car's value but their value estimations are pulled out of some bureaucrat's ass).

[Athame]

8. It's the snitch program itself that bothers me

What a slippery slope that is! It feels innocuous and even "just" at first. Those who drive in California should help pay the cost of the road maintenance and the pollution controls (such as they are), but ten million dollars is probably overestimated anyway and is a very inefficient way to raise a relatively small sum of money. No, this is about turning friend against friend and dividing the population so we are all watching each other and watching what we say and do because someone else may be watching us.

I myself have had friends and neighbors who keep their out of state plates to avoid the fees. I also know people who work in the underground economy and don't pay taxes and I know people who keep a bit of marijuana in their homes and I know people who go across the border for prescription drugs... I may not approve, but I am not going to turn them in.

How long will it be before they are asking us to turn in any neighbors who do not fly the American flag or who attend peace rallies?

[hang a left]

17. The sad part about it is that they wouldn't ask, if they knew

the rats wouldn't come crawling out of the woodwork. Nothing worse that a Rat.

[Ediacara]

22. Sorry....

But why should I have to pay the same amount to register my 14 year old shitty car, as someone who has a brand new Hummer or Ferrari? If they have the money to buy a car that's that expensive, they should have the money to pay to register and license it.

It's like charging people a flat rate for gasoline when some cars are gas-guzzlers and some aren't.

I agree, the system of charging fees based on the car's value isn't perfect and ACTUAL value should be taken into account, but it's FAR BETTER than a flat rate for every vehicle no matter the value.

[Peregrine]

10. Where I used to live in MD

They would go through apartment building complexes, townhouse developments, and neighborhoods puting warning tickets on cars with out of state plates. Then come back in 30 days and ticket the ones still with out of state plates.

[CoolerKing]

12. I had out of state plates for over 3 years...

I moved to Cali in 1997, didn't change my plates over until August 2001. I had heard that the cops are suspicious of Oregon plates, but because I was from back east I wasn't THAT concerned. There were (and are) a LOT of plates from out of state here. Hell, there was a car at my apartment complex that Hawaii plates for three years!

Still, I was always worried about getting nabbed. It made me a very cautious driver--I haven't had a speeding ticket in over 8 years. good for the insurance rates, at least.

One thing to note: when I first move to Cali, they still had the unconstitutional, Pete Wilson (aka the biggest tax raising governor in the history of the US...great republican!) "smog impact fee" that hit out of state cars with a $300 fee if they weren't up to date with Cali's strict smog compliance standards. About 2 years after I moved here a pissed off lawyer sued the state and had the fee thrown out as an unconstitutional tax, and the state had to refund all the fees plus interest.

[phoebe]

14. the state has so much debt and yet we are supposed to believe

that this will bring money into the state's coffers?

Try closing some of the insane loopholes for the corporations first..

[yellowcanine]

15. Encouraging neighborhood snitches......

A few years back I had an old Peugeot with a broken piston. I had it parked in front of my place and I took the tags off and transferred the registration to another car. I had already called a salvage company to have the car picked up and a cop rolls up and starts looking over the car. I told him the car was being picked up and that the tags had been off for about two days max. He acted a little disgusted and told me that one of my neighbors had complained about the car being there with no tags. Some people just don't have enough to keep themselves occupied!

[progressivebydesign]

20. It's dollars and cents.. and it's fair.

You know.. if you really examine the issue, as supposedly environmental-social-program-supporting liberals, as we supposedly ARE here... you'd see that this crackdown in a good thing.

Losers regularly sidestep the registration of their cars in California for two reasons 1) they don't have to comply with air pollutions standards. 2) they don't wan to pay their fair share of fees. IF they want to live in the State, they need to play by the rules. I would think this would be a no-brainer around here.. unless DU is suddenly in favor of cutting State services or increasing air pollution. Of course, lately, DU has been a little odd.. so I shouldn't be surprised.

[skippysmom]

21. They do this in VA too

I spent a summer living in Arlington and interning in DC. I spent all of 10 weeks there -- and when I got back to NY, where I was going to grad school at the time, I had a letter from the Arlington PD demanding that I register my car. They got a polite yet firm phone call from me that I wasn't a VA resident and wasn't planning to be.

Sure, I can understand that the state needs revenue (though sounds like Ahnold is to blame for that) but the thought of neighbors or cops spying on you to determine if you really live there is a bit chilling. And 20 days isn't really a lot of time to get your car registered -- when we moved to MA, it took us a good 2 months just to get our insurance squared away so we could register our cars. Not to mention finding time in your day to spend a couple of hours waiting at the registry.