A bill which would create a two-in-one sticker to show a vehicle is both registered and has passed inspection received mixed reviews during a hearing this week before the House Transportation Committee.
State Rep. Barry Jozwiak (from Berks County) is the bill’s prime sponsor, arguing the move would make it easier for vehicle owners.
“It will provide uniformity for vehicle owners,” Jozwiak said. “Currently, these expire in different months of the year and people forget to get them done.”
But, not everyone is on board.
Major James Bassinger of the Pennsylvania State Police said the organization thinks to move is unnecessary and won’t result in an increase in highway safety.
“The old registration stickers were often times altered or stolen from one vehicle and placed on another,” Bassinger said. “We believe this could also be the case with a proposed two-in-one sticker.”
The state eliminated the registration sticker requirement two years ago after PennDOT said the move would save $3 million per year in the cost of producing the stickers and mailing them out. However, data shows PennDOT has actually lost $33 million due to people simply not registering their vehicles.
PennDOT registered 234,000 fewer vehicles the first year without stickers, indicating that motorists were purposely dodging the requirement because they knew it would be hard to catch them, Mr. Jozwiak testified Tuesday.
