Bureau of Automotive Repair: inspection fees.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to develop and administer a vehicle registration amnesty program, to be in effect from January 1, 2010, until December 31, 2010, for vehicles that were previously registered or classified incorrectly and that, pursuant to the program, become correctly registered. Existing law requires the department to grant amnesty to a vehicle owner if specified conditions are met by December 31, 2010. This bill would authorize the Bureau of Automotive Repair to charge a vehicle owner who participates in this amnesty program a fee of $160 for each referee station inspection conducted pursuant to these provisions and would require the fee to be collected by the referee station performing the inspection. The bill would provide that a contract to perform referee services may authorize direct compensation to the referee contractor from the inspection fees collected pursuant to these provisions and would require the referee contractor to deposit the inspection fees collected from the vehicle owner into a separate trust account, as specified. The bill would require the department, where it conducts the inspections, to deposit the fees into the Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund.