How can they even require registration? Last night, I stripped a bike apart into each of its individual pieces in like 10 minutes. Completely down to the bare frame, so that can go and be powdercoated. If you can completely change every piece on the bike, and then go paint the frame.. the only possible way of "registration" would involve some sort of identification number. And that would not be possible on old bikes, nor would it be easy to enforce with the amount of bikes that are stolen these days.
The idea seems like a decent theory, but if you think about it for a minute, it's preposterous. Do I have to contact the Department of Transportation every time I paint my frame a different color, or change the wheels?