The tags on the vehiclke were expired although the insurance was in force and had/has never lapsed and the DMV registration fees were paid online before the expiration date. The glitch was the communication between insurance company and DMV. It took 2 months for them to sort it out and finally issue my current tags.
It was not my fault or negligence that the DMV's and Progressive's computers could not manage to communicate. I had done my part to register my vehicle and insure it in good faith.
I would take it to Superior Court, not that I can afford to miss work, but for the principle of the matter.
Okay, well, you may not prevail. If I'm reading this right you had deposited your fees, but the registration was NOT current because of some glitch with your insurance company. A deposit of fees does NOT equal valid registration! If that's the case, then the parking citation is perfectly valid - including any late fees, because your registration was not valid at the time of the citation. In fact, there is no legal requirement that the agency make the parking citation a correctable one. They allowed you to correct it and pay the $10 admin fee as if this were a "moving" cite which is not something they had to do.
If this is the fault of your insurer, you may have to see if THEY will reimburse you, but if you are able to appeal the matter to the Superior Court you may owe additional fees to the court if they rule against you.
How about this part of the CA VC:
5204. (a) Except as provided by subdivisions (b) and (c), a tab
shall indicate the year of expiration and a tab shall indicate the
month of expiration. Current month and year tabs shall be attached to
the rear license plate assigned to the vehicle for the last
preceding registration year in which license plates were issued, and,
when so attached, the license plate with the tabs shall, for the
purposes of this code, be deemed to be the license plate, except that
truck tractors, and commercial motor vehicles having a declared
gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more, shall display the
current month and year tabs upon the front license plate assigned to
the truck tractor or commercial motor vehicle. Vehicles that fail to
display current month and year tabs or display expired tabs are in
violation of this section.
(b) The requirement of subdivision (a) that the tabs indicate the
year and the month of expiration does not apply to fleet vehicles
subject to Article 9.5 (commencing with Section 5300) or vehicles
defined in Section 468.
(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply when proper application for
registration has been made pursuant to Section 4602 and the new
indicia of current registration have not been received from the
department.
(d) This section is enforceable against any motor vehicle that is
driven, moved, or left standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet
public parking facility, in the same manner as provided in
subdivision (a) of Section 4000.
But, you were not cited for 5204. Besides, from what you're saying there was no "current registration" as the insurance had not been verified either by documents supplied by you or by your insurer, so the registration was not valid, anyway.
Especially since you were aware you did not have a current registration it was your obligation to refrain from driving the vehicle. You really do not have an arguable excuse here. While the situation surely sounds like a pain in the butt, that doesn't change the fact you knowingly were driving a vehicle without a current registration.