Thursday, January 30, 2014

Effort to raise vehicle license fee dropped

A proposed ballot measure that would have raised the controversial vehicle license fee in order to repair the state's pothole-filled roads and maintain train systems will not go before voters after all. - Mercury News

...The California Road Repairs Act would have increased the vehicle license fee by 0.25 percent a year for four years, raising it from 0.65 percent to 1.65 percent of a vehicle's value.
The withdrawal of the proposal drew mixed reaction from motorists. Joan Armstrong, of San Jose, said an increase in the license fee would have added "hundreds of dollars" for her family's three cars....

The vehicle license fee has been controversial since 2003, when Gov. Gray Davis raised the fee and motorists rebelled. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned against the increase during his effort to recall Davis, and he quickly abolished the license fee increase upon taking office.