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TO AMEND CHAPTER 3, TITLE 56, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING, BY ADDING ARTICLE 42 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY MAY ISSUE "DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES LAW ENFORCEMENT FUND" SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES; AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF FEES COLLECTED FROM THE ISSUANCE OF THESE LICENSE PLATES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 3, Title 56 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 56-3-4200. (A) The department may issue "Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Fund" special motor vehicle license plates to owners of private passenger-carrying motor vehicles or light pickups having an empty weight of seven thousand pounds or less and a gross weight of nine thousand pounds or less registered in their names. The special license plate must be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates and issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month it is issued. The fee for this special license plate is the regular motor vehicle license fee contained in Article 5, Chapter 3 of this title and a special motor vehicle license fee of fifty dollars.
(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, from the fees collected pursuant to this section, the Comptroller General shall place sufficient funds into a special restricted account to be used by the department to defray the expenses of the Division of Motor Vehicles in producing and administering the special license plates. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee must be designated for use by the Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division.
(C) Before the Department of Public Safety produces and distributes a plate authorized under this section, it must receive:
(1) four hundred or more prepaid applications for the special license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of the license plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an individual or organization pursuant to this section, the department must refund the four thousand dollars once an equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for that organization's license plate. If the equivalent amount is not collected within four years of the first issuance of the license plate, then the department must retain the deposit; and
(2) a plan to market the sale of the special license plate that must be approved by the department.
(D) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular special license plate authorized under this section, it shall not produce additional special license plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.
(E) The Department of Natural Resources may request a change in the message, emblem, seal, or other symbol on the license plate once the existing inventory of the license plate has been exhausted."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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