So, I haven't lived in California since 1992, thus I cannot claim to speak in an informed way about this (except for the fact that Austin seemed to have a huge

So, I haven't lived in California since 1992, thus I cannot claim to speak in an informed way about this (except for the fact that Austin seemed to have a huge number of California license plates in 2020 and 2021). I'm wondering if any of the (presumably numerous) California (or very recently California) based HN readers could give their opinion on this take (or the New York Times')?