{"id":459588,"date":"2026-09-10T17:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459588\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T17:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:42:09","slug":"steve-hilton-vows-to-abolish-california-dmv-if-elected-governor-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459588\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Hilton vows to abolish California DMV if elected governor | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The longshot California<\/a> gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton pledged this week to abolish the state\u2019s department of motor vehicles if he is elected, promising to shutter the oft-criticized department for good and set a flat $73 annual registration fee per car.<\/p>\n

Hilton, a Trump-backed former conservative pundit running in reliably blue California, called the state\u2019s DMV a \u201cbloated bureaucracy\u201d, during a Tuesday campaign event, echoing the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to slash the federal workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan for buildings like this is to turn them into something that\u2019s actually useful for California,\u201d he said, standing in front of the DMV in West Hollywood. \u201cWe\u2019re going to turn DMV offices into after-school clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A California DMV spokesperson declined to comment on Hilton\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

For many US motorists, updating their license at the DMV can be a herculean feat with lengthy wait times. And vehicle registration fees, which California motorists must pay annually, are steep: typically several hundred dollars a year.<\/p>\n

However, it is unlikely the state\u2019s DMV could be abolished. The California legislature, in which Democrats hold a supermajority in both the state assembly and senate, would need to pass Hilton\u2019s proposed legislation.<\/p>\n

Hilton also faces an uphill battle in the gubernatorial race. A Republican has not been elected to a statewide position in 20 years, and Hilton is trailing well behind his Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra, in recent polls.<\/p>\n

In a news release expanding on the idea, Hilton took aim at the cost of running the state\u2019s offices \u2013 the legislature allocated $1.46bn to the DMV for the 2025-2026 fiscal year \u2013 and the fees drivers pay for services at the DMV.<\/p>\n

He proposed transferring some functions of the DMV online and punting routine car title and plate transactions to local county offices.<\/p>\n

Becerra\u2019s campaign, meanwhile, suggested his proposal would risk driver safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing says \u2018safer roads\u2019 like outsourcing driver safety checks to the lowest bidder,\u201d spokesperson Jonathan Underland said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The longshot California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton pledged this week to abolish the state\u2019s department of motor vehicles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-459588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}