Download This Version in Microsoft Word format
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING ARTICLE 79 TO CHAPTER 3, TITLE 56 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES MAY ISSUE HIGH SCHOOL SPECIAL 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 56-3-7950. (A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue special motor vehicle license plates to owners of private passenger-carrying motor vehicles or light pickup trucks having an empty weight of seven thousand pounds or less and a gross weight of nine thousand pounds or less registered in their names which may have imprinted on the plate the emblem, a seal, or other symbol the department considers appropriate of any accredited public or private high school in this State. The fee for this special license plate is the fee contained in Section 56-3-2020.
The special license plate must be issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month it is issued.
(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 department in producing and administering the plates. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee must be distributed to the public or private high school.
(C) Before the department 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 which must be approved by the department.
(D) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular plate authorized under this section, it shall not produce additional plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 2:45 P.M.