Part 5.5. Local Vehicle License Fees of California Revenue And Taxation Code >> Division 2. >> Part 5.5.

This part is applicable only in a county which has adopted a general plan providing for a network of county expressways and has financed the first phase of the construction of such highways from a county highway bond issue totaling at least seventy million dollars ($70,000,000). This part is necessary to provide needed revenue to continue further construction of such an expressway system without increasing the property tax.

As used in this part, "department" means the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 10758 of this code, the board of supervisors of a county may, by ordinance, adopt a vehicle license fee pursuant to this part. After a local vehicle license fee has been levied pursuant to this part, it may not be collected more than twice unless the board of supervisors shall have submitted to the voters at a general or special election and at least a majority of those voting have voted affirmatively on the following question: "Shall the local vehicle license fee be continued as the means to finance the county expressway program?"

No vehicle license fee ordinance adopted pursuant to this part shall be effective for any calendar year prior to 1968, nor unless it is adopted and a certified copy thereof delivered to the Department of Motor Vehicles at least four months prior to the first day of January for the calendar year for which it is to be operative.

A vehicle license fee ordinance adopted pursuant to this part may be repealed by action of the board of supervisors of the county. A repeal of any vehicle license fee ordinance adopted pursuant to this part shall not be effective for any calendar year unless the board of supervisors takes action to repeal the ordinance at least four months prior to the first day of January the year for which it is to be repealed.

The vehicle license fee ordinance adopted under this part shall be imposed for the privilege of operating upon the public highways in the county any vehicle of a type which is subject to registration under the Vehicle Code unless specifically exempt under the terms of the ordinance, and shall include provisions in substance as follows:
  (a) A provision fixing the annual amount of the license fee which shall be an amount not exceeding ten dollars ($10) for every vehicle of a type subject to registration under the Vehicle Code. The ordinance may provide a different fee for any class of vehicles provided no fee shall exceed ten dollars ($10) per vehicle.
  (b) Provisions identical to those contained in Part 5 (commencing with Section 10701) of Division 2 of this code, insofar as they relate to vehicle license fees and are applicable, except that the name of the county as the taxing agency shall be substituted for that of the state, and that the term "vehicle of a type subject to registration under the Vehicle Code" does not include (1) any vehicle in the inventory of vehicles held for sale by a manufacturer, distributor or dealer in the course of his business until such time as the vehicle is sold, (2) any trailer coach, or (3) any class of vehicles specifically made exempt from the vehicle license fees authorized by this part by the terms of the ordinance imposing such fees.
  (c) A provision that all amendments, subsequent to the effective date of the county vehicle license fee ordinance, to Part 5 (commencing with Section 10701) of Division 2 of this code relating to vehicle license fees and not inconsistent with this part, shall automatically become a part of the county vehicle license fee ordinance.
  (d) A provision that the county contract with the Department of Motor Vehicles to perform all functions incident to the administration or operation of the vehicle license fee ordinance of the county.
  (e) A provision that the vehicle license fee ordinance shall become operative on the first day of January of the year next succeeding the year in which the ordinance is adopted, subject to the provisions of Section 11104.
  (f) A provision that the total revenue derived from any vehicle license fee ordinance, less any costs charged by the Department of Motor Vehicles for its services, shall be distributed to the county for the construction (as defined in Section 29 of the Streets and Highways Code) of a county expressway system or the select system of a county.

All vehicle license fees shall be collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to a contract with the county and shall be transmitted to the county by the department periodically as promptly as feasible, and the department shall charge the county for the department's services specified in this section and Section 11106 such amount as will reimburse the department for the actual additional cost to it in rendering the services. Refunds to licensees pursuant to Part 5 of Division 2 of this code as incorporated in the vehicle license fee ordinance shall be made and administered as provided in such contract.

A person shall, for the purposes provided in this part, be presumed to be operating a vehicle on the public highways only in the county of residence as it is reflected in the registration records of the Department of Motor Vehicles and he shall be subject to a vehicle license fee under this part only in that county. The department is authorized to establish administrative procedures for the collection of vehicle license fees. In determining the place of residence of a person the department shall be entitled to rely upon the address reflected in its records unless any such person or persons or county or district shall establish to the satisfaction of the department that the place of residence is elsewhere.