2012 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 56 - Motor Vehicles
Chapter 3 - MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING
Section 56-3-6000 - United States Armed Services Special License Plates.

< Section effective until December 26, 2012. See, also, section effective December 26, 2012. >

(A) The department may issue special license plates for use on private passenger motor vehicles and motorcycles owned or leased by residents of this State which separately honor the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Marines Corps, United States Air Force, and the United States Coast Guard. The biennial fee for the special license plate is the regular motor vehicle license plate fee contained in Article 5, Chapter 3 of this title plus thirty 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 of Motor Vehicles to defray the expenses of the Department of Motor Vehicles in producing and administering the special license plates. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee must be administered by the Department of Education and deposited in an appropriate account designated by the Department of Education for distribution to the ROTC program.

(C) Before the department produces and distributes a special license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive:

(1) four hundred 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.

(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 license plate, 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 special license plates must be of the same size and general design as regular motor vehicle license plates. The department shall imprint the special license plates with a distinctive emblem approved by the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Transportation, as applicable, which distinguishes each branch of the United States Armed Services.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 158, Section 3, eff June 10, 2005; 2008 Act No. 347, Section 8, eff June 16, 2008.

< Section effective December 26, 2012. See, also, section effective until December 26, 2012. >

(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue a distinct and separate special license plate for the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Marines Corps, the United States Air Force, and the United States Coast Guard for use on private passenger motor vehicles and motorcycles owned or leased by residents of this State. The biennial fee for each special license plate issued for a branch of the military is the regular motor vehicle license plate fee contained in Article 5, Chapter 3 of this title plus thirty 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 of Motor Vehicles to defray the expenses of the Department of Motor Vehicles in producing and administering the special license plates. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license plate fee must be disbursed in equal amounts to the various county Veterans' Administration offices to be used for operational expenses.

(C) Notwithstanding another provision of law, the requirements for production, collection, and distribution of fees for these license plates are those set forth in Section 56-3-8100.

(D) The department shall imprint the special license plates with a distinctive emblem approved by the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Transportation, as applicable, which distinguishes each branch of the United States Armed Services.

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 158, Section 3, eff June 10, 2005; 2008 Act No. 347, Section 8, eff June 16, 2008; 2012 Act No. 272, Section 29, eff December 26, 2012.