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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
military services special plates
Purpose
Effective October 1, 2019, establishes the military services special plate.
Background
The Arizona Department of Transportation’s (ADOT) Motor Vehicle Division provides one license plate to every motor vehicle owner for each vehicle registered (A.R.S. § 28‑2351). ADOT is required to issue or renew special license plates in lieu of regular license plates under specified conditions and procedures (A.R.S. § 28-2403). The fee for obtaining or renewing a special license plate is $25 (A.R.S. § 28-2402). From the $25 fee, typically, $8 is an administration fee that ADOT deposits in the State Highway Fund (SHF) and $17 is considered a donation to the respective organization or charitable fund. ADOT currently offers over 60 special license plates.
The Veterans' Donation Fund (VDF) consists of donated monies, gifts and contributions to the Arizona Department of Veterans' Services (ADVS) and monies from certain veteran and honored military special plates. ADVS administers the VDF and may use VDF monies for the benefit of the veterans within Arizona as grants (A.R.S. § 41-608).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires ADOT to issue military service special license plates if by December 31, 2019 a person pays $32,000 to ADOT for implementation fees.
2. Requires ADOT and ADVS to design the military services special license plate in a manner that allows for a military branch of service insignia to be placed on the plate at the request of the applicant.
3. Allows the Director of ADOT (Director) to combine requests for military services special license plates with personalized special plates.
4. Specifies that a combined request is required to be submitted on a form prescribed by the Director and is subject to fees for the both the military services special license plates and personalized plates.
5. Specifies that, of the $25 fee required to obtain and renew a special plate, $8 is an administration fee and $17 is an annual donation.
6. Requires ADOT to deposit all special plate administration fees into the SHF and all remaining monies into the VDF.
7. Requires the Director of ADVS to establish a separate subaccount in the VDF for the deposits of monies received from the military services special plates.
8. Requires the first $32,000 in the subaccount to be reimbursed to the person who paid the initial implementation fee.
9. Requires the remaining monies in the subaccount to be used for services to benefit:
a) U.S. veterans in Arizona; or
b) immediate family members of U.S. veterans in Arizona.
10. Makes technical and conforming changes.
11. Becomes effective on October 1, 2019.
House Action
TRANS 2/20/19 DPA 4-3-0-0
3rd Read 3/4/19 37-22-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 11, 2019
ZD/HB/gs