Some Missouri residents could soon choose to register their vehicles for five years at a time.

The House voted 143-0 on Monday to pass legislation that would add the option for people with cars less than six years old. Currently, state law requires motorists to renew their registration every one or two years.

“I came up here with the intention of making life simpler for my constituents,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bob Bromley, R-Carl Junction, during floor debate last week. “That’s what this bill does. It saves people trips to the license office.”

The legislation would require people who choose the five-year option to pay $45 for their tags. Currently, Missourians pay $9 for one-year registration and $18 for two years.

Although it’s uncontested, some representatives did raise concerns last week that the bill would lead people to stop paying for car insurance – or turn in their personal property declarations and taxes late, which could pose a challenge for county assessors and collectors. Insurance proof and personal property tax receipts are required for registration.

“I didn’t come up here to make bureaucrats’ lives easier,” Bromley said, adding that the Missouri Department of Revenue will soon track uninsured drivers and that other information is already available online.

“This is all going to be tied together: the personal property tax, the licenses, the insurance, and they should be able to see every bit of that in one clean swoop,” Bromley said.

Among those who testified in support of the bill was a representative for the Missouri NAACP, who said it would reduce traffic stops.

Bromley’s bill would also allow two-year tags for all drivers in the state by repealing an existing provision that only permits the option for people whose vehicle is an even model year registered in an even calendar year, or an odd model year registered in an odd calendar year.

“A lot of people say, ‘Well, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,’” Bromley said, adding that it was originally intended to balance the revenue stream from car registrations but is no longer necessary.

Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, said he is in favor of the bill because he recently went through the process.

“And I’m like, ‘It was a brand-new car, and why could I only get a one-year tag?’ So that was the reason,” Butz said.

The law would not change emissions inspections, which are still required every two years in parts of the state, including St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles and Jefferson counties.

Earlier this month, the federal government moved to stop regulating vehicle emissions. Legislation to terminate the tests has been introduced in the Missouri House but is not currently scheduled for a hearing.

“That’s on hold, just waiting to see what the federal government does,” Bromley said.

Safety inspections are not required for vehicles under 10 years old or with less than 150,000 miles – though the chamber passed legislation last week that would eliminate them altogether.

Currently, proof of both safety and emissions inspections is required to renew some vehicle tags in the state.

The legislation is HB 2189. If the Senate approves it, the changes would go into effect in 2027.