HARRISBURG – Two bills that would impact PA drivers are being introduced. House Bill 1534 would require car insurers to report a new insurance policy to PennDOT. When a driver cancels their vehicle insurance policy, the insurer is obligated to report it to PennDOT; however, there is no such requirement for insurers to report a new insurance policy. If drivers don’t realize they need to submit the new policy information, PennDOT believes they don’t have insurance, and police could wind up fining drivers. The second, House Bill 1535 would require PennDOT to send text or email reminders for upcoming vehicle registration expirations. In 2016, PennDOT stopped issuing registration stickers for vehicle license plates. While this has saved taxpayers millions of dollars, it also eliminated a helpful reminder for drivers to renew their registrations and has resulted in drivers receiving citations for an expired registration. Under the bill, the phone number or email for the reminder would need to be provided voluntarily and PennDOT would not be permitted to provide that information to third parties. Both bills have been referred to the PA House Transportation Committee.
