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Two changes tucked into North Carolina’s newly passed state budget could affect your daily commute, from the paper card in your glove box to the cameras you may pass on your way to work.
Lawmakers voted to phase out physical vehicle registration cards and renewal stickers in favor of an electronic system, and separately gave permanent authorization to a network of automatic license plate readers that had been operating under a three-year pilot program. Together, the provisions signal a shift in how North Carolina drivers are documented - and how their movements can be tracked.
Here’s what commuters should know about both.
The end of the paper registration card
For decades, North Carolina drivers have been required by state law to keep a printed copy of their vehicle registration inside the car. A budget provision would eliminate that requirement, along with the annual renewal stickers, and replace them with an electronic system.
The change is intended “to reduce administrative costs, streamline vehicle registration processes, and enhance efficiency,” according to the state budget.
The proposal instructs the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles, which operates under the Department of Transportation, to develop and maintain a “secure and user-friendly vehicle registration system” that allows drivers and law enforcement to “access and verify registration status without the need for physical registration cards or renewal stickers.”
For commuters, that means the small paper card most drivers stash in a glove box or center console - and reach for during a traffic stop - will eventually be replaced by digital verification. Officers would be able to confirm a vehicle’s registration status electronically rather than by inspecting a printed document.
If you prefer paper, you’ll still have that option. Drivers can apply in person or online for a printed copy of the registration. Applicants would pay “a fee” that would not exceed the cost to print and mail the physical registration, according to the budget.
Annual renewal is not going away. The DMV is instructed to update its electronic registration records each year, so commuters will still need to keep their information current.
The DMV itself did not push for the change. Marty Homan, the communications manager for the Department of Transportation, said the agency did not ask for it.
“We don’t necessarily have an opinion,” he told The News & Observer. “We do what the law requires. I think the DMV is agnostic on this change.”
Cameras on state-owned land
The second change is likely to be less visible to the average driver.
The budget allows the North Carolina Department of Transportation to enter into agreements with the State Bureau of Investigation to place and use automatic license plate readers on state-owned land. The readers take photos of plates and translate the image to text to compare against databases.
The cameras must be above ground, removable and without combustible fuel, according to the budget. Their placement cannot “unreasonably interfere” with public utility facilities.
The technology is not new to North Carolina roadways. The state has used license plate readers for the past three years under a pilot program run by the SBI, and more than 100 cameras have been set up statewide, The N&O previously reported. The budget provision expands the framework for future installations.
“The NC SBI is grateful for the trust the members of the North Carolina General Assembly have placed in this agency,” Chad Flowers, a spokesperson for the agency, said. “We will work diligently to comply with all legislation passed by the General Assembly.”
The SBI’s stated goal in launching the pilot program was to cover every entry point to the state with the technology, according to a report the agency prepared for the legislature.
Where the cameras are - and who uses them
Triangle drivers have already been passing these cameras. Thirty-two law enforcement agencies took part in the pilot program, including the Raleigh Police Department, Wake County Sheriff’s Office and Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, The N&O previously reported.
At least nine of those agencies are using Flock Safety cameras or have access to its database. Flock Safety is a security hardware and software operator that builds automatic license plate readers and other technologies for law enforcement agencies, businesses and other groups.
Under the budget, any law enforcement agency that contracts to use the systems must share information about that use with the SBI. Every March, the SBI must provide a report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety, including each agency’s written policy for using the readers, the number of requests for captured data and the number of cameras in the SBI’s system.
State law limits preservation of the data to at most 90 days, except in specific cases such as search warrants or ongoing criminal or missing persons investigations. Local and state law enforcement agencies must also write policies governing how they use the readers.
The Department of Transportation is not involved in installing or operating the cameras, said Jamie Kritzer, a DOT spokesperson. The agency “has the option to inspect the cameras to ensure they are placed in approved areas within the right of way.” Kritzer said DOT was not part of budget deliberations on the provision.
Debate over privacy
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina opposes the license plate reader provision. Zac Contreras, a spokesperson for the ACLU-NC, said the organization believes the system and other monitoring technologies “treat everyone as a potential suspect.”
“[License plate readers] do not just search for suspects of crime; they also keep records on the whereabouts of everybody,” he said. “They are increasingly becoming a tool for mass location tracking and surveillance.”
Contreras noted that some states have limited data retention to mere minutes compared with North Carolina’s 90-day window, and said the ACLU-NC sees the provision as lacking “stronger statutory safeguards.”
Supporters point to law enforcement results. Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Burlington Police Department alone has recovered 37 stolen vehicles and generated 38 investigative leads with the system, along with 71 arrests and citations and 10 instances in which narcotics were seized. Burlington is about 60 miles northwest of Raleigh.
Britt said the technology deals with a limited set of circumstances, including locating lost or stolen vehicles, missing persons and people with outstanding felony warrants.
“These are not license plate readers to pick up Subarus and Volvos to see who might be not supporting Trump or voting for Democrats,” he said.
Sen. Sophia Chitlik, a Durham Democrat, said at a June Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that she was concerned about how data would be shared with private companies. Legislative staff said current law already states that the recording is for law enforcement only, that the data is confidential and not a public record, that it cannot be monetized and that it can only be accessed by other law enforcement agencies.
The summary above was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists, including legislative and lobbying reporter Esther Frances and politics editor Jordan Schrader. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
