HCS HB 1583 -- SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE APPROVAL

SPONSOR:  Crawford (Schlottach)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on
Transportation and Motor Vehicles by a vote of 20 to 0.

This substitute gives the Joint Committee on Transportation
Oversight the duty of approving or denying a special license
plate application submitted by the Department of Revenue.

The substitute removes the special license plate exemption which
allows organizations to forego the 100-applicant requirement by
paying for the actual cost of the initial issuance.

Organizations, except those seeking a special military license
plate, must submit an application to the department which:

(1)  Describes the proposed license plate;

(2)  Has at least one current member of the General Assembly as a
sponsor;

(3)  Includes a list of at least 100 potential applicants; and

(4)  Includes an application fee, not to exceed $5,000, to defray
the department's cost for reviewing the application and
developing the specialty license plate.

All moneys received by the department, excluding the special
license plate fee, will be deposited in the Department of Revenue
Specialty Plate Fund.  The State Treasurer will be the custodian
of the fund and will make disbursements for personal services,
expenses, and equipment required to prepare, review, develop, and
disseminate a new specialty plate and process the initial 100
applications.  If the application is not approved by the joint
committee, the State Treasurer will refund any deposits for that
specialty plate.  The disposition of the fund at the end of the
year is specified.

The required documents and fees must be submitted to the
department by July 1 prior to the next regular session of the
General Assembly in order to be approved by the joint committee.
If the special license plate application is approved, the
sponsoring organization must submit the proposed art work to the
department no later than 60 days after the approval.  If the
joint committee denies the application, 97% of the application
fee will be refunded to the organization along with all submitted
fees.  The department must give notice to advise the public of a
proposal and begin production and distribution of the new special
license plates within one year after approval.  The department is
authorized to discontinue issuance of special license plates if
the organization no longer provides services or has stopped
issuing emblem-use authorization statements.

Any person or organization who receives a notice of denial for a
special license plate may request a hearing to review the joint
committee's decision within 15 days of receiving the notice.

The fee for all specialty license plates, except special military
license plates, will be $25 annually and $50 biennially in
addition to the regular registration fees.  No additional fee
will be charged for personalized specialty plates.

The substitute becomes effective January 1, 2005.

FISCAL NOTE:  Not available at time of printing.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the bill will help expedite the
issuance of special license plates and save the General Assembly
valuable time.

Testifying for the bill was Representative Schlottach.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Robert Triplett, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:15 am