HB-4633, As Passed House, October 3, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBSTITUTE FOR

 

HOUSE BILL NO. 4633

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled

 

"Michigan vehicle code,"

 

by amending section 224 (MCL 257.224), as amended by 2012 PA 491.

 

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 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 tax 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) The department shall not issue or transfer a standard

 

design beads on paint registration plate or issue a registration

 

tab or sticker for that plate, but shall offer a new standard

 

design registration plate that complies with the requirements of

 

this act. The new standard design registration plate shall be of a

 

common color scheme and design that is made of fully reflectorized

 

material and shall be clearly visible at night. The implementation

 

of this subsection is contingent upon appropriations sufficient to

 

cover the costs to the department of designing, manufacturing,

 

distributing, and issuing the new standard design registration

 

plate. The secretary of state shall file a written report with the

 

secretary of the senate and the clerk of the house of

 

representatives of the costs incurred and revenue expended to meet

 

the requirements of this subsection within 30 days after all of the

 


standard design beads on paint registration plates to be replaced

 

under this subsection have been replaced.

 

     (6) The department may use the Pure Michigan brand or a

 

successor or similar brand that is used in conjunction with the

 

this state's promotion, travel, and tourism campaigns or marketing

 

efforts as part of the standard design for registration plates.

 

     (7) 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.

 

     (8) 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.

 

     (9) 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 or by assignment as provided in subsection (3).

 

     (10) 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.

 

     (11) Beginning on January 1, 2015, a registration plate issued

 

by the department under this section shall not be renewed 10 years

 

after the date that registration plate was issued. The owner of a

 

vehicle whose registration plate is no longer eligible for renewal

 


under this subsection shall obtain a replacement registration plate

 

upon payment of the fee required under section 804. For any

 

alphanumeric series that the department has retired from

 

circulation, upon request of the owner of a vehicle whose

 

registration plate is no longer eligible for renewal under this

 

subsection, the department may issue a new registration plate with

 

the same registration number as was displayed on the expired

 

registration plate as provided under section 803b.

 

     (12) The secretary of state, in conjunction with the

 

department of corrections, the Michigan state police, the Michigan

 

sheriffs' association, 1 individual appointed by the speaker of the

 

house of representatives, and 1 individual appointed by the senate

 

majority leader, shall prepare a report analyzing the viability of

 

moving from the current registration plate production process to a

 

digital printing of registration plates. The secretary of state

 

shall submit the report to the standing committees of the senate

 

and house of representatives with primary responsibility for

 

transportation issues no later than December 31, 2013.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect December

 

1, 2013.