If it still needs work in order to be road worthy, why not renew it as non-op?
I still would like to drive it short distances, if only because my wife needs her car for something else.
I brought it back and got a better looks at the pro scan tool they used. It showed that the cat isn't ready, EVAP, and something else. However, I was advised that I should probably just go and register it anyways and I could avoid any further late fees. I've frankly had some cash flow issues until recently and I didn't register it. I did get a couple of expired registration tickets for my wife's car though before I got it registered. I mentioned getting out of one ticket (officer wrote down the wrong date), but not another in another topic. But my car was another matter. I never got a single ticket, even parked on the street. Even a police cruiser right behind me. Even when I saw an officer looking at my license plate (when my car was parked) and then just driving away without even a warning. The closest I remember was in front of my house where I saw our local PD looking over my car, and I got out to ask if I "could be of an assistance". I was told they were just doing outreach and when they saw expired registrations they would leave warning notes instead of tickets, and then ticket if they saw the same cars were on the street. The officer did say I could get a PNO, but in the meantime I should just take it off the street.
This was on a Saturday, and apparently no California DMV offices are open on Saturdays for the time being. There are some automated registration kiosks (one is at a local supermarket) but I don't think they can handle expired registrations. So to register, I ended up going to a AAA office that was open on Saturdays, although they don't accept checks now, and charge a percentage for credit cards (but not debit cards). My fines, late registration, and current registration were pretty steep, but at least least it's current now.
I still need to get the smog check to pass before I can get my final registration and tag. It's a chicken and egg deal with getting the smog to pass while I would need to drive it to get to that point, while technically it's not registered. But at the very least I have the proof that I paid for it, along with the smog report saying it's not ready. I suppose I can use that as an excuse if I get pulled over, although I don't think it works if I get an expired tag parking ticket (although those would be a fix-it ticket once I get the smog done).