Free Republic

LOS ANGELES – California motorists may have to pay $2 more to register their vehicles and an additional 75 cents for a new tire under a plan to fund air pollution programs. If approved by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the legislation proposed by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-Los Angeles, could provide the state with $90 million a year. The money would be used to expand programs targeting smog and to fix or replace pre-1977 school buses and farm equipment, the California Air Resources Board said. "A lot of people who don't always see eye to eye on these issues...

Gov. Gray Davis, campaigning to keep his term from coming to a premature end in the recall election, endorsed a fledgling Democratic proposal last week to dump the planned increase in the car tax in favor of higher taxes on the wealthy and cigarettes. The swap could help Davis, eliminating a much-despised tax increase that will add an average $160 to the annual fee just a week before the recall election. But will the unorthodox plan work?

Car fee boost collides with Davis' drive to keep his job Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Sunday, July 27, 2003 URL: http://sfchronicle.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/27/MN291768.DTL Sacramento -- An incumbent's nightmare will begin arriving in millions of Californians' mailboxes just as Gov. Gray Davis launches an unprecedented fight for his political life. Notices of higher vehicle registration fees, which the Davis administration recently tripled as a way to help plug the state's budget deficit, will hit the mail starting Friday for cars with registrations that expire in October. The increase will cost the average California car owner $158 per vehicle. "It's the most expensive...

<p>Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, urged Democrats to "think hard" before passing the vehicle bill because there will be times they need bipartisan support, a sentiment echoed by Gov. Davis.</p> <p>The Senate approved a bill Monday that would allow state vehicle license fees to triple, setting the stage for an almost-certain veto by Gov. Gray Davis and a setback in efforts to address the state's fiscal crisis.</p>