A recent proposal in the state Senate would help drivers’ wallets — and likely cost the state millions of dollars a year.

State Sen. Pam Helming, R-Geneva, has introduced S.5993, eliminate the requirement that motor vehicle and trailer registrations be renewed every two years. Helming proposes instead registering a vehicle when it is purchased and keeping that registration in effect until the vehicle’s title is transferred to a new owner, at which point the new owner would pay for a new registration. Helming also proposes that any existing motor vehicle registration remains valid until the vehicle’s title is transferred.

Assemblyman John Lemondes, R-Auburn, is sponsoring the legislation in the state Assembly (A.6752).

“As New Yorkers find it more difficult to work, conduct business and survive than ever before, one simple thing we can do to incentivize people and businesses to stay is to reduce their costs,” Helming and Lemondes wrote in their legislative justification. “This bill takes a rational approach to reducing overall personal and business expenses by requiring that the registration of motor vehicles and trailers be done only upon the initial acquisition of the vehicle or trailer or upon the transfer of a certificate of title to a new owner. This would eliminate the requirement to renew those registrations biennially at a cost of well over a $100 for the average two-car family or the average business with one vehicle and two trailers. This small incentive would demonstrate goodwill on the state’s part toward its law-abiding citizens.”

The financial implications to the state are listed as “to be determined” in the legislative memorandum attached to Helming’s bill. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal showed vehicle registration revenue of $500 million in 2020, an estimated $400 million in 2021 and $1.4 billion in 2022, when renewal year in the triennial registration cycle.

Earlier this year, Cuomo proposed an additional $1 fee for each transaction made at the state’s Motor Vehicles Department to help deal with the state’s budget shortfall. Federal aid and better-than-anticipated state tax collections have largely eliminated that shortfall. That fee would have generated $13 million in new revenue.

Another piece of legislation reintroduced this year by Sen. Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Monticello, is A.79/S.3687, which would require the state to notify drivers 30 days before their vehicle inspection expires and adds a five-day grace period before a ticket could be written. The DMV already notifies drivers when their license or registration is about to expire.

The legislation passed the Senate in 2018 and didn’t make it out of the Senate’s Transportation Committee in 2019-20. The legislation has never progressed out of the Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

“For many over-worked, busy New Yorkers, the last thing on their mind is getting their vehicle reinspected. The first time they realize their vehicle inspection has expired is when they return to their parked car to find a hefty $65 ticket issued by a parking enforcement agent,” Felder and Gunther wrote in their legislative memorandum. “This bill also creates a five-day grace period after the vehicle inspection expires before a ticket can be issued. This grace period shows good will while helping build positive feelings and attitudes towards city government. Tickets are meant to encourage a certain behavior. Fair warning, with a pinch of grace, would go a long way to achieving increased compliance, safer cars and cleaner air without the negatively and of the current system.”