A bill moving through the Idaho Legislature could eliminate the requirement for vehicle registration stickers on license plates, potentially saving the state hundreds of thousands of dollars while raising concerns among law enfo rcement about enforcement challenges.House Bill 533 would remove the mandate to display registration stickers, though vehicle owners would still be required to pay annual registration fees. The bill's author, Republican Rep. Jon Weber of Rexburg, argues that law enforcement already has access to all necessary vehicle information when running license plates. WATCH | Police discuss concerns about removing registration stickers Idaho debates eliminating vehicle registration stickers"That 100% of the time law enforcement runs your plate and receives all the information they need on that vehicle," Weber said on the House floor.Lawmakers estimate the change would save the Idaho Department of Transportation approximately $300,000 by ending the sticker program.However, Lt. Don Peck with the Nampa Police Department said registration stickers provide officers with an immediate visual indicator of compliance."Not having that registration sticker, what it does, it allows somebody to fly under the radar and not register their vehicle," Peck said.Without visible stickers, Peck explained that some drivers might choose not to register their vehicles at all, reasoning that law enforcement won't know unless they specifically run the plate number."Why bother? My vehicle is not registered. How is law enforcement going to know unless they run my vehicle?" Peck said.The lieutenant emphasized that checking vehicle registration is a manual process requiring officer initiative."I have to physically run that. I have to put it into my computer to get the return. The computer doesn't know how to run that on its own. We don't have any systems that can do that," Peck said.Even advanced license plate readers, like those recently installed in Caldwell, cannot automatically check registration status. While these systems can compare plates to national databases for stolen vehicles, wanted individuals, and other alerts, they lack registration verification capabilities.Peck warned that adding expired registration alerts to license plate reader systems could create problems by overwhelming officers with notifications."An officer driving down the road, constantly getting a ping of expired registration in their car. They will get desensitized to the license plate reader, and then when we have something that is a high priority, a stolen vehicle, a wanted homicide suspect, a missing person, they'll be desensitized," Peck said.For Canyon County happenings, news, and more join our Facebook Group: 2C Neighborhood News - Nampa, Caldwell, MiddletonThis story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less