For many years, Californians have groaned about needing to go to or wait in line on the Division of Motor Automobiles, however which will quickly change if Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is elected.
Hilton introduced Tuesday, Sept. 8, his plans to abolish California’s DMV, which he calls a “monopoly,” and lower automobile registration to $73 per automobile yearly as a part of his marketing campaign to make the state extra reasonably priced for residents.
“We’re going to shut down this bloated, nanny-state, bureaucratic company that treats Californians with full contempt,” Hilton mentioned throughout his announcement.
California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks to supporters as he attends his marketing campaign watch social gathering in Huntington Seaside, California, June 2, 2026.
Affordability has been a key part of Hilton’s gubernatorial campaigns, particularly highlighting the necessity for change as Californians face a housing and affordability disaster.
“It does appear like change actually is coming to California,” Hilton mentioned in a social media put up after profitable a spot on November’s poll within the primaries. “If anybody goes to drag this state round, that’s the plan. Change is coming; we’re heading to Sacramento.”
As a part of his new plan, Hilton desires to decentralize a lot of the DMV’s function by reallocating residents’ registrations, titles, driver’s licenses, and highway check must county places of work or regulated native suppliers.
Hilton would additionally wish to take away the state’s “value-based automobile tax, transportation add-ons, native surcharges, and different stacked costs” to eradicate the “hidden Automotive Tax” many Californians really feel they need to pay, and as an alternative impose a flat $73 annual price for each automobile. Hilton notes in his announcement that this new flat fee ought to cowl the price of reallocating vehicle-related duties to native governments.
Photographs: California governor candidate Steve Hilton on election evening
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California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is greeted by supporters at his main evening occasion on June 2, 2026 in Huntington Seaside, California. Hilton is in a decent race with Democratic candidates Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. (Mario Tama, Getty Pictures)
Moreover, if elected, Hilton would push for a full audit of the DMV inside the first three months after taking workplace. He would then draft and ship a “No Extra DMV Act” to state legislatures to eradicate the Division of Motor Automobiles.
“The purpose is a a lot smaller state back-end that does the work solely authorities should do,” Hilton’s announcement reads.
In his announcement, Hilton additionally acknowledged California’s want to keep up “safe information, authentic licenses, and robust fraud prevention,” duties the DMV at the moment handles.
If the DMV had been abolished, Hilton would plan to have “each county workplace and authorized service heart” connect with a brand new “safe state system” that will “use the identical identity-verification guidelines and comply with the identical recordkeeping requirements.”
Hitlton’s plan didn’t specify which division would tackle this theoretical duty after abolishing the DMV.
Hilton’s marketing campaign says the $73 price would cut back registration income from roughly $11 billion to $2.7 billion, elevating questions on how funding for roads, native transportation packages and CHP would get replaced
Jonathan Underland, the marketing campaign communications director of Xavier Becerra, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, launched an announcement in response to Hilton’s plan.
“Nothing says ‘safer roads’ like outsourcing driver security checks to the bottom bidder,” reads the assertion.
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA At the moment. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, comply with him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Join the TODAY Californian publication or comply with us on Fb at TODAY Californian.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: GOP candidate Steve Hilton publicizes plan to abolish California DMV