Board approves increase to vehicle registration fee to fund county Cal‑ID fingerprint program

The Solano County Board of Supervisors on April 8 voted 5-0 to increase the county motor-vehicle registration fee from $1 to $2 and the commercial registration fee from $2 to $4, with the revenue dedicated exclusively to the county’s automated fingerprint identification (Cal‑ID) program. The fee increase is authorized by Assembly Bill 2393 (2014) and implemented under the California Vehicle Code provision referenced by staff.

Lisa Donahue, director of administrative services for the sheriff’s office and chair of the county RAN board, explained that the fee funds the Cal‑ID unit’s latent-fingerprint examiners, automated biometric identification system (ABIS) software and hardware, and training and certification for staff. Donahue said one of two latent-fingerprint examiner positions was recently vacated by retirement and that the county must maintain staffing and system maintenance. The sheriff’s office’s Cal‑ID staff described the program’s role in matching latent prints from crime scenes and processing live-scan fingerprints from the jail and patrol operations.

Staff estimated that the DMV would require a one-time programming fee of about $40,000, deducted from the county’s first deposit, and that increasing the fee in Solano County (with a vehicle fleet of roughly 424,000 vehicles) would produce an estimated annual increase in fund revenue that staff described as approximately $420,000 per year for Cal‑ID operations and upgrades. If the board’s resolution is submitted to DMV immediately it would take roughly six months for DMV to process the change and begin collecting the higher fee; staff said the earliest collection date would be October 1, 2025, consistent with DMV timelines.

At the meeting the board opened and closed the public hearing on the item; no public speakers addressed the proposal during the hearing. Board members heard sheriff’s office anecdotes illustrating Cal‑ID’s public-safety value: the sheriff related an incident in which a latent-print match identified an individual wanted on an international homicide warrant who otherwise would have been released. The board adopted the resolution imposing the fee and directed staff to submit the change to DMV for processing.

The fee revenue is restricted by statute and will be used only for Cal‑ID operations, staffing, ABIS upgrades and related equipment and training. Staff will bring procurement and staffing actions to the board as required by county purchasing and personnel rules.