Ohioans will have to shell out more money for their vehicle registration and renewals once a new state law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
The change in law comes from the most recent state operating budget, which boosts registration and renewal fees for both commercial and non-commercial vehicles by $5 — down from the $10 increase that was asked for by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Non-commercial registrations and renewal fees will go from $11 a pop to $16, or about a 45% increase. Non-apportioned commercial fees will go from $30 to $35, about a 17% increase.
Combined, the fee increase is expected to bring in an addition $62.5 million to the Department of Public Safety each year, estimates Ohio’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission.
Earlier this year, as the legislature was shaping its budget bill, Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson testified to state senators that his agency was driving toward a cliff when it came to funding.
“The single most important item for the Department of Public Safety in this budget is ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Ohio State Highway Patrol,” Wilson said. “I do not want you to leave this testimony with any doubt — if we do not address our looming funding crisis in this budget, the Ohio State Highway Patrol will look very different at the end of the upcoming biennium than it does today, and that difference will put Ohio citizens in danger. It will also impede our ability to support local agencies that we have developed incredible mutual support relationships with over the past few years.”
Wilson explained that the Ohio State Highway Patrol used to receive shares of the state’s gas tax revenues, but that stopped in 2003. Since then, the OSHP has been bankrolled by an assortment of driving-related fees that haven’t changed in over 20 years. Wilson said the buying power has nearly halved in that time period.
“For the past 22 years, the Department of Public Safety has been a good steward of the funds that have been collected through those two fees,” Wilson said. “But when an operating budget is built on a fee that doesn’t change, inflation and cost of living increases grow and the budget reaches an inevitable tipping point.”
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