April 25, 2013, Introduced by Rep. Schmidt and referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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; 40301 to
40307; 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 expires 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.No
later than January 1,
2015, the department shall use a digital printing method to create
all standard design registration plates. As used in this
subsection, "digital printing method" means a method of creating a
registration plate using a retroflective sheeting material that is
printed digitally using thermal transfer ribbons and then laminated
to an aluminum substrate.
(6) The department may use the Pure Michigan brand or a
successor or similar brand that is used in conjunction with the
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 expires 8 years after the date
that registration plate was issued. The owner of a vehicle whose
registration plate expires under this subsection shall obtain a
replacement registration plate upon payment of the fee required
under section 804. Upon request of the owner of a vehicle whose
registration plate has expired under this subsection, the
department shall issue a new registration plate with the same
registration number as was displayed on the expired registration
plate upon payment of a $10.00 fee.