Under a new law that takes effect on January 1, insurance companies in California will be required to electronically report to the DMV whenever a car insurance policy has lapsed or been canceled.

Proof of insurance has been required by law enforcement officers during traffic stops and by DMV employees when renewing vehicle registration since 1997.  However, aside from an all too easy to obtain paper identification card, the DMV and law enforcement had no way to know if a policy was current or even legitimate.  That is all about to change.

Before you procrastinate further and assume it will take some time for technology to catch up to the law, consider that most large insurance companies have been reporting this information for some time.  The DMV just didn't do anything with it.  Now it will.  Vehicle registrations will begin being suspended in October.  That information will then be shared with law enforcement who will begin checking the DMV computer files in July.

The new law will take another needed step in forcing the estimated 20 percent of uninsured Californians to buy insurance and help protect the law abiding 80 percent.