CA HOV stickers on car with a Nevada Plate

That's a really interesting question. My gut reaction was "No, it has to be registered in Calif", but I am not able to find anything stating that the decals must be surrendered if the car is reregistered in a different state.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/decal.htm

V.C. Section 5205.5 - Low-Emission Vehicle Identification for High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane Use: Tolls

V.C. Section 21655.9 - HOV Lanes: Use By Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles

Still, if I was a CHP and saw Clean Air stickers on a car with NV plates, I would check it out.

 

It's more likely the guy moved to Nevada and hasn't removed the stickers.

 

davidbw, are you in CA or NV (your profile doesn't have a location set)?

Section 21655.9 says

Obviously if it's registered in NV, it's not going to have the specified CA registration, so they can't drive in the HOV lanes in CA with a single person.

 

Here's the portion of CA Vehicle Code section 5205.5 that refers to vehicle registration:

"(f) For purposes of subdivision (a), the Department of the California Highway Patrol and the department, in consultation with the Department of Transportation, shall design and specify the placement of the decal, label, or other identifier on the vehicle. Each decal, label, or other identifier issued for a vehicle shall display a unique number, which number shall be printed on, or affixed to, the vehicle registration."

Those of you who have CA HOV stickers know that a separate paper form was issued to accompany the stickers. The annual vehicle registration certificate says nothing about the HOV stickers or the associated serial number of the stickers.

Therefore I think that if the owner of the Prius with NV license plates still has the CA DMV paper form that shows the sticker serial number, s/he could claim compliance with section 21655.9.

 

+1

When reg's are silent, they'll lean towards a light most favorable to the legislator's intent. Here ... the goal is to promote less smog, and the out of state plate meets that prong.