Assigned to TRANS                                                                                                                         FOR COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Forty-seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session

FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2616

fallen police officers; special plates

Purpose

            Requires the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to issue special license plates for families of fallen police officers and establishes a families of fallen police officers special plate fund.

Background

ADOT’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) provides one license plate to every motor vehicle owner for each vehicle registered.  Vehicle license plates display both the name of the state as well as a number assigned to the vehicle and the owner.  License plates must be clearly visible and displayed on the rear of the vehicle.

In addition to regular Arizona vehicle license plates, MVD issues special license plates for a variety of causes and organizations.  The fee for obtaining or renewing a special license plate is $25.  From the $25 fee, $8 is an administration fee that goes to ADOT for deposit in the State Highway Fund and $17 is considered a donation to the respective organization (A.R.S. § 28-2402). Plate personalization is an additional $25 fee.

The Legislature established the License Plate Commission (Commission) in 1997 to authorize special license plates.  An organization may submit a request to ADOT for a special organization plate including a logo.  ADOT forwards qualified requests to the Commission.  The Commission may approve an organization’s request for a special license plate if the primary activity of the organization serves the community, contributes to the welfare of others and is not discriminatory or offensive in nature.  The organization cannot promote a specific brand name, product, religion or faith (A.R.S. § 28-2404). In recent years, the Legislature has also authorized several special plates.

There are currently 64 types of license plates available in Arizona including specialized license plates, with the most popular being the personalized license plate.  There are six military special plates, two types of handicapped plates and plates for the three state universities.  There are also license plates indicating the vehicle’s status such as a farm or historic vehicle.  Several special plates have been adopted in which part of each plate’s fee benefits the related cause such as the Child Abuse Prevention special license plate and the Environmental special license plate. 

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this proposed legislation.

Provisions

1. Requires ADOT to issue special license plates for families of fallen police officers if $32,000 is paid to ADOT by December 31, 2006 for implementation of the special plates.

2. Requires the Department of Public Safety Director or the Director’s designee to design the families of fallen police officers special plates.

3. Subjects the design and color of the families of fallen police officers special plates to ADOT approval.

4. Permits ADOT to allow a request for families of fallen police officers special plates to be combined with a request for personalized special plates in an ADOT prescribed form and subjects the plate to the personalized special plate fee and the families of fallen police officers special plate fee.

5. Establishes the ADOT administered families of fallen police officers special plate fund (fund) and allows for ten percent of the annual deposits to be used for administration.

6. Requires ADOT to deposit all special plate administration fees in the State Highway Fund and transmit all donations to the fund.

7. Requires ADOT to allocate monies from the fund to an incorporated nonprofit Arizona corporation that is qualified under section 501(C)(3) of federal law if the nonprofit organization demonstrates a commitment to help heal surviving family members of police officers who died in the line of duty in Arizona. 

8. Makes technical and conforming changes.

9. Becomes effective on the general effective date.

House Action

TRANS           2/9/06              DP       6-0-0-3-0

APPROP         2/22/06            DP       12-1-0-2-0

3^rd Read           3/9/06                          55-2-3-0

Prepared by Senate Research

March 24, 2006

DG/RD/ac