Beginning Oct. 1, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be required to collect mileage data from certain vehicles under a pilot program that was instituted into law during the 2019 Legislative Session.
The law requires owners to report the mileage at the time of registration, registration renewal or the selling of a vehicle. If the vehicle is required to comply with a smog test, then the mileage is submitted with the test at the time of renewal.
According to AB 483, fuel taxes have been traditionally used to fund construction and maintenance of highways and other roads. However, these revenues have declined because of improved efficiency in cars and gasoline, and the use of alternative fuel sources such as electric vehicles.
Under the ruling, the state requires owners to provide odometer readings for passenger, light-duty, heavy-duty, motortruck, truck-tractor, bus and recreational vehicles. The weight of vehicles ranges from less than 6,000 pounds to over 80,000 pounds, and includes compressed natural gas, diesel, electric, and flexible fuel E85 and other types of fuels.
Classic Vehicle, Classic Rod and Old Timer are already required to report their odometer reading each year in order to qualify for the exemption from emissions testing. Nor does the law apply to motorcycles or mopeds or vehicles registered as farm vehicles.
The data will be compiled to produce reports every 6 months and used to “seek significant and innovative solutions in order to meet the challenges of adequately funding the construction and maintenance of the highways of this State into the future.”
The pilot program will run from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026.
This requirement comes on the heels of SB48 which authorizes certain local governments to increase diesel taxes. This bill passed into law in May. Humboldt County commissioners supported its passage. At the time, Humboldt County Commissioner Jim French said commissioners supported the bill because of “the increase in fuel efficiency on automobiles and the advancement of the electric vehicles that are on the road right now have contributed to a reduction in fuel consumption … but I think the unintended consequences of that [are] they request some of the services on those roads but aren’t paying the taxes.”
“The shortfall in Humboldt County right now is about a million dollars a year for our road fund,” French said at the May 7 commission meeting, adding “that over 40% of the roads [in Humboldt County] that we are required to maintain for delivery and over-the-road trucks are not on the interstate. Those are county roads as well as state routes.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 18 states have enacted legislation to implement a special licensing, registration or road use fees on alternatively fueled or electric vehicles. Nevada is currently not one of the 18 states.
