Legislator aims to repeal new car-registration fee

The first bill introduced in the Arizona Legislature for next year’s session is an effort to repeal a new $32 vehicle-registration fee that has generated controversy since it was announced last month.

Scottsdale lawmaker Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who proposed Senate Bill 1001 on Friday, said the state should get rid of the fee because its amount isn’t subject to a public process.

The Legislature passed a bill in April giving the director of the Arizona Department of Transportation the authority to set the fee. Officials estimated at that time that it would be $18 starting in 2019 and would generate about $149 million.

It was needed, they said, because for years lawmakers took money collected for road repairs and instead used it to fund the highway patrol. To donate, text to

Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, sponsored the bill for the fee because he wanted a permanent funding source for the highway patrol.

Campbell said he has gotten an earful from people after ADOT announced the fee would be nearly double what was expected, raising about $265.6 million. Ugenti-Rita, also a Republican, said she has heard similar things. “This is a bill I opposed,” she said. “I’m filing this on behalf of my constituents. I heard from them. They forwarded the email from ADOT. They were outraged.”

The fee is higher than originally anticipated because ADOT said it also would fund maintenance and construction of state highways.

“They were able to undermine the process and pass a massive tax increase on the public without any kind of public involvement,” Ugenti-Rita said of the fee. “We have allowed a bureaucrat to now set a tax.” We’ll match your gift 50 cents on the dollar until donations reach $600,000. or go to