2006 Code of Virginia § 46.2-749.3 - Special license plates for clean special fuel vehicles

46.2-749.3. Special license plates for clean special fuel vehicles.

A. The owner of any motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, that may utilizeclean special fuel may purchase special license plates indicating the motorvehicle utilizes clean special fuels. Upon receipt of an application, theCommissioner shall issue special license plates to the owners of suchvehicles.

For those motor vehicles required by law to display official government-uselicense plates, the Commissioner shall provide by regulation for theissuance, display, and fee for issuance of an alternative device indicatingthat the vehicle displaying the device is a clean special fuel vehicle. Forthe purposes of 33.1-46.2, vehicles displaying such a device as provided insuch regulation shall be treated as vehicles displaying special licenseplates issued under this section.

As used in this section, "clean special fuel" means any product or energysource used to propel a highway vehicle, the use of which, compared toconventional gasoline or reformulated gasoline, results in lower emissions ofoxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide orparticulates or any combination thereof. The term includes compressed naturalgas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, hythane (acombination of compressed natural gas and hydrogen), and electricity.

On and after July 1, 2006, license plates provided for in this section shallbe issued with a new design distinctively different from the design oflicense plates issued to owners of vehicles that qualify for license platesunder this section whose applications are received by the Department prior toJuly 1, 2006. The distinctively different design shall be developed by theDepartment in consultation with the Department of State Police.

1. For the purposes of subdivision A 6 of 33.1-46.2, on HOV lanes servingthe I-95/395 corridor, only vehicles registered with and displaying speciallicense plates issued under this section prior to July 1, 2006, shall betreated as vehicles displaying special license plates issued under thissection.

2. That the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, in consultationwith the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board, shall develop procedures to ensure thatall potential purchasers of clean special fuel vehicles receive adequatenotice of the benefits, risks and timelines required for the issuance ofclean special fuel vehicle license plates.

B. The annual fee for plates issued pursuant to this section shall be $25 inaddition to the prescribed fee for state license plates. For each such $25fee collected in excess of 1,000 registrations pursuant to this section, $15shall be paid to the State Treasury and credited to a special nonrevertingfund known as the HOV Enforcement Fund, established within the Department ofAccounts, for use by the Virginia State Police for enhanced HOV enforcement.

(1993, cc. 255, 625; 1995, c. 134; 1999, c. 883; 2000, cc. 729, 758; 2006,cc. 873, 908.)