About 200,000 Arizona Drivers To Receive Public Safety Refund Check

By Vaughan Jones
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Published: Sunday, September 26, 2021 - 11:29pm
Updated: Monday, September 27, 2021 - 8:27am

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vehicle registration email
Sky Schaudt/KJZZ
An Arizona vehicle registration email sent in March 2019.

Hundreds of thousands of drivers will be getting refund checks from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The move is in response to a controversial public safety fee that was included as part of vehicle registration renewal costs, and later rescinded.

Checks worth $32 will be sent out to about 200,000 Arizona drivers, totaling about $6.6 million.

Legislators approved the fee in 2018 to pay for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which runs the state Highway Patrol.

The fee was initially estimated to be $18 a year, but ADOT updated it to $32, a move that was met with public outcry and the eventual rescinding of the law.

State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) told Capitol Media Services that ADOT was supposed to stop charging the fee in May, but collected it in June, triggering the state budget to include the upcoming refunds.

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