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.