JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri is the only state that still uses horsepower to determine vehicle registration fees — a Senate bill aims to change that, along with a slew of fee increases and modernized processes.
Senate Bill 1632, sponsored by Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, aids in the motor vehicle and driver’s licensing system modernization currently underway in the Department of Revenue.
The omnibus bill was heard in the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee on Monday.
“The goal of Senate Bill 1632 is to update antiquated statutory provisions to allow for a more nimble, efficient motor vehicle and driver’s license system,” Crawford said.
The 101-page bill includes several provisions to upgrade licensing processes, including changes to delinquent registration, sales tax and registration fees.
Registration fees
The bill changes how state car registration fees are determined. Instead of using horsepower to determine the cost, car buyers would have a $25 flat fee.
Zach Wyatt, legislative director at the Missouri Department of Revenue, testified that this change improves the process currently in place.
“A lot of MSO’s — the document you get for new vehicles — do not state the horsepower, so it has become somewhat of an antiquated guessing game for our staff and the license offices,” Wyatt said.
The fiscal note states that removing the horsepower calculation for a flat fee would result in a $5,236,216 increase in collected registration funds.
Missouri law also allows the use of transferred plates and temporary permits with a $2 transfer fee. This bill increases the fee to $10.
According to the fiscal note, the Motor Vehicle Bureau processes 212,133 license plate transfers annually. By increasing the fee to $10, the department anticipates collecting $1,697,064 annually towards highway, city and county funds.
Delinquency fee
The delinquency fee for Missourians renewing their registration late will also increase from $5 to $25. For every month a car owner is late on renewal, they owe $25, with a cap of $200.
“That would provide more incentive to comply with registration debt deadlines,” Crawford said.
Of the almost 470,000 late renewal accounts in Missouri, the average time between the expiration date and renewal is three months. With that information, the Department of Revenue estimates this would bring an additional $32 million to the annual highway, city and county funds.
Sales tax
In the past two years, the Department of Revenue has seen an average of almost 350,000 motor vehicle sales to out-of-state individuals in Missouri.
If passed, this bill would allow a Missouri dealer to collect and remit state and local taxes for Missouri, regardless of what state the purchaser resides in.
This rule will also apply to boats and outboard motor vehicles.
Other changes
The bill includes several other provisions to further modernize the process.
- Removing the 10-year document retention limitation for REAL ID applications.
- Increasing the minimum number of sales required for a dealer license to 12.
- Eliminating the production of alternative fuel decals for vehicles.
- Increasing the renewal period for disabled placards from four to eight years.