Registration of vehicles and certificates of title.

Existing law allows a vehicle displaying a copy of the report of sale to be operated without license plates or registration card until either the license plates and registration card are received by the purchaser, or the expiration of a 90-day period beginning with the date of sale of the vehicle, whichever occurs first. A violation of this provision is an infraction. This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to assess the need for a temporary vehicle identification system that is different from the process described above. The bill would require the department, in making this assessment, to consider information from relevant entities and the experience of other states, as specified. The bill would require the department, if its assessment demonstrates the need to enhance or change the existing temporary vehicle identification system, to examine the costs and benefits of employing different systems, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit, no later than January 1, 2016, a report that includes the results of the assessments and examinations described above, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to make a recommendation in the report as to whether the state should implement a new temporary vehicle identification system. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2017.