SENATE BILL No. 655

 

 

June 29, 2005, Introduced by Senators TOY, CROPSEY, JELINEK, BIRKHOLZ and BISHOP and referred to the Committee on Transportation.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled

 

"Michigan vehicle code,"

 

by amending section 224 (MCL 257.224), as amended by 1995 PA 129,

 

and by adding section 224a.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 224. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this act

 

regarding tabs or stickers, upon registering a vehicle, the

 

secretary of state shall issue to the owner 1 registration plate.

 

     (2) A registration plate shall display the registration number

 

assigned to the vehicle for which the registration plate is issued;

 

the name of this state, which may be abbreviated; and when the

 

registration plate expires, which may be shown by a tab or sticker

 

furnished by the secretary of state.


 

     (3) A registration plate issued for motor vehicles owned and

 

operated by this state; a state institution; a municipality; a

 

privately incorporated, nonprofit volunteer fire department; or a

 

nonpublic, nonprofit college or university of this state shall not

 

expire at any particular time but shall be renewed when the

 

registration plate is worn out or is illegible. This registration

 

plate shall be assigned upon proper application and payment of the

 

applicable fee and may be used on any eligible vehicle titled to

 

the applicant if a written record is kept of the vehicles upon

 

which the registration plate is used. The written record shall

 

state the time the registration plate is used on a particular

 

vehicle. The record shall be open to inspection by a law

 

enforcement officer or a representative of the secretary of state.

 

     (4) A registration plate issued for a vehicle owned by the

 

civil air patrol as organized under  sections 1 to 8, chapter 527,

 

60 Stat. 346 to 347, 36 U.S.C.  36 USC 201 to 208; a vehicle owned

 

by a nonprofit organization and used to transport equipment for

 

providing dialysis treatment to children at camp; an emergency

 

support vehicle used exclusively for emergencies and owned and

 

operated by a federally recognized nonprofit charitable

 

organization; a vehicle owned and operated by a nonprofit veterans

 

center; a motor vehicle having a truck chassis and a locomotive or

 

ship's body which is owned by a nonprofit veterans organization and

 

used exclusively in parades and civic events; a vehicle owned and

 

operated by a nonprofit recycling center or a federally recognized

 

nonprofit conservation organization until December 31, 2000; a

 

motor vehicle owned and operated by a senior citizen center; and a


 

registration plate issued for buses including station wagons,

 

carryalls, or similarly constructed vehicles owned and operated by

 

a nonprofit parents' transportation corporation used for school

 

purposes, parochial school, society, church Sunday school, or other

 

grammar school, or by a nonprofit youth organization or nonprofit

 

rehabilitation facility shall be issued upon proper application and

 

payment of the applicable fee provided in section 801(1)(g) or (h)

 

to the applicant for the vehicle identified in the application. The

 

vehicle shall be used exclusively for activities of the school or

 

organization and shall be designated by proper signs showing the

 

school or organization operating the vehicle. The registration

 

plate shall expire on December 31 in the fifth year following the

 

date of issuance. The registration plate may be transferred to

 

another vehicle upon proper application and payment of a $10.00

 

transfer fee.

 

     (5) Beginning January 1, 2006, the department shall not

 

transfer a standard design registration plate that is 5 or more

 

years old or issue a registration tab or sticker for that license,

 

but shall replace the plate with a new standard design registration

 

plate that complies with the requirements of this act. In addition

 

to the registration tax required under section 801, the department

 

shall charge an additional fee of $5.00 for each standard design

 

registration plate that is replaced under this subsection. The

 

department shall deposit fees collected under this subsection in

 

the standard design registration plate replacement fund created in

 

section 224a.

 

     (6)  (5)  The registration plate and the required letters and


 

numerals on the registration plate shall be of sufficient size to

 

be plainly readable from a distance of 100 feet during daylight.

 

The secretary of state may issue a tab or tabs designating the

 

month and year of expiration.

 

     (7)  (6)  The secretary of state shall issue for every

 

passenger motor vehicle rented without a driver the same type of

 

registration plate as the type of registration plate issued for

 

private passenger vehicles.

 

     (8)  (7)  A person shall not operate a vehicle on the public

 

highways or streets of this state displaying a registration plate

 

other than the registration plate issued for the vehicle by the

 

secretary of state, except as provided in this chapter for

 

nonresidents, and by assignment provided in subsection (3).

 

     (9)  (8)  The registration plate displayed on a vehicle

 

registered on the basis of elected gross weight shall indicate the

 

elected gross weight for which the vehicle is registered.

 

     Sec. 224a. (1) The standard design registration plate

 

replacement fund is created within the state treasury.

 

     (2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from

 

any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall

 

direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit

 

to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.

 

     (3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall

 

remain in the fund and shall not lapse to the general fund.

 

     (4) The department of state shall expend money from the fund,

 

upon appropriation, only to cover the costs of replacing and

 

manufacturing standard design registration plates under section


 

224.