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Funding

Where every county stands.

California Vehicle Code §9250.19 established a dedicated funding source for county California Identification System (Cal-ID) programs: up to $2 per vehicle registration and $6 per commercial vehicle, collected alongside regular California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) fees and returned to the county. The mechanism activates with a single board resolution, and eleven counties already fund at the top tier.

The map

Momentum, county by county.

Every county below is colored by its current §9250.19 fee tier as tracked by Cal-RIDG, not by lagging fiscal-year reports. The signal is simple: the top tier keeps growing, and one resolution is all it takes. A county can adopt the base fee, or go directly to the top.

$2 / $6
11 counties · top tier
$1 / $3
33 counties · base tier
Unfunded
14 counties · no fee adopted yet

Tier reflects the total fee per registration: standard vehicles / commercial vehicles. The map shows tiers only, without revenue figures, because the tier is the part a county can act on.

Skip past the county map Del Norte County: $1 / $3Siskiyou County: $1 / $3Modoc County: unfundedHumboldt County: $1 / $3Trinity County: $1 / $3Shasta County: unfundedLassen County: $1 / $3Tehama County: unfundedPlumas County: unfundedMendocino County: $1 / $3Glenn County: $1 / $3Butte County: unfundedYuba County: unfundedNevada County: unfundedSierra County: unfundedLake County: unfundedColusa County: $1 / $3Sutter County: unfundedPlacer County: $1 / $3El Dorado County: $1 / $3Sonoma County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Napa County: $1 / $3Solano County: $1 / $3Yolo County: $1 / $3Sacramento County: $1 / $3Amador County: unfundedAlpine County: $1 / $3Marin County: $1 / $3San Francisco County: $1 / $3Contra Costa County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Alameda County: $2 / $6 (top tier)San Joaquin County: $1 / $3Calaveras County: unfundedTuolumne County: $1 / $3Mono County: $1 / $3San Mateo County: $1 / $3Santa Clara County: $1 / $3Stanislaus County: $1 / $3Merced County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Mariposa County: unfundedMadera County: $1 / $3Santa Cruz County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Fresno County: $1 / $3Inyo County: $1 / $3San Benito County: $1 / $3Monterey County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Kings County: $1 / $3Tulare County: $1 / $3San Luis Obispo County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Kern County: $2 / $6 (top tier)San Bernardino County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Santa Barbara County: $1 / $3Ventura County: $1 / $3Los Angeles County: $1 / $3Orange County: $1 / $3Riverside County: $2 / $6 (top tier)San Diego County: $2 / $6 (top tier)Imperial County: unfunded

Hover or tab through the map

The mechanism

Standing law, four steps.

  1. The County Board of Supervisors approves

    The County Board of Supervisors adopts a resolution pursuant to Vehicle Code §9250.19. This resolution is the sole trigger. A county can adopt the $1 fee, or go directly to $2.

  2. The California DMV collects it

    The fee is collected alongside regular vehicle registration and renewal: up to $2 per vehicle, $6 total per commercial vehicle. There is no new billing and no county overhead. The DMV recovers its administrative costs, including a one-time programming cost after any change in the fee level, from the first collections. This one-time cost is the same whether a county adopts the base fee, raises it, or goes directly to the top tier.

  3. The State Controller’s Office returns it

    Fees flow back to the county quarterly, continuously appropriated — no fiscal-year sweep, no grant cycle, and no competition.

  4. The RAN board directs it

    At the recommendation of the local Remote Access Network (RAN) board, the funds are spent exclusively on Cal-ID–compatible identification programs and equipment.

    The RAN board is the county’s Cal-ID governing body under Penal Code §11112.4. It is comprised of the sheriff, the district attorney, the chief of the largest Cal-ID member department, a second chief selected by the county’s police chiefs, a mayor, a member of the Board of Supervisors, and a member-at-large.

From Vehicle Code §9250.19(a)(1):

“…upon the adoption of a resolution pursuant to this subdivision by any county board of supervisors, a fee of one dollar ($1) shall be paid at the time of registration, renewal, or supplemental application for apportioned registration…”

Full text of §9250.19 Gov. Code §76102 — the county fund

If your county is grey on that map, the mechanism is already on the books.

Some counties never adopted the resolution; others adopted $1 years ago and have not revisited it. Cal-RIDG can walk your Cal-ID program through what §9250.19 could fund, and how counties statewide are putting it to work. In that conversation, Cal-RIDG is as much an advocate as a partner: if it ends with your county simply claiming its funding and strengthening its own Cal-ID program, that is a win.

Contact Cal-RIDG