(1) The department shall issue one or more sets of special license plates to applicants under this section for passenger cars, motorcycles, or trucks that do not exceed sixteen thousand pounds empty weight. The American Indian special license plate shall not be issued for motorcycles until January 1, 2007.
(2) (a) There is hereby established the American Indian special license plate. The department may begin issuance of such special license plate when the Rocky Mountain Indian chamber of commerce has commitments for special license plate purchases for at least two thousand special license plates and provides a list of the names and addresses of persons purchasing such plates to the department.
(b) The Rocky Mountain Indian chamber of commerce is responsible for the costs of designing the special license plate and shall pay such costs before the license plate is produced.
The design for the special license plate shall conform with standards established by the department.
(3) (a) A person may apply for an American Indian special license plate for a motor vehicle if the person pays the taxes and fees required under this section and provides a certificate issued by the Rocky Mountain Indian chamber of commerce confirming that such person meets the qualifications for the license plate established pursuant to this subsection (3).
(b) The Colorado commission of Indian affairs shall establish a specific level of contribution to a scholarship fund that qualifies a person to obtain special license plates under this section and shall set appropriate qualifications in order for an applicant to receive a scholarship. The scholarship fund shall be administered by a nonprofit organization, association, or corporation selected and supervised by the Colorado commission of Indian affairs. Such scholarship shall not be awarded to an applicant unless the applicant can demonstrate that he or she is a Colorado resident and such scholarship will be used to attend an institution of higher education within Colorado. Such nonprofit organization shall issue a report to the Colorado commission of Indian affairs accounting for revenues and expenditures at least every other year.
The amount of the taxes and fees for special license plates under this section is thesame as the amount of the taxes and fees specified for regular motor vehicle license plates plus a one-time fee of twenty-five dollars for each motor vehicle for issuing or replacing such license plates. The department shall transmit the additional one-time fee to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the highway users tax fund, created in section 43-4-201, C.R.S., for allocation and expenditure as specified in section 43-4-205 (5.5)(b), C.R.S.
On or after January 1, 2007, an applicant may apply for personalized American Indian special license plates. If the applicant complies with section 42-3-211, the department may issue such plates upon payment of the additional fee required by section 42-3-211 (6) for personalized license plates. If the applicant has existing personalized license plates for a motor vehicle, the applicant may transfer the combination of letters or numbers to a new set of American Indian special license plates for the vehicle upon paying the fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) and upon turning such existing plates in to the department as required by the department. A person who has obtained personalized license plates under this subsection (5) shall pay the annual fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(b) to renew such plates. The fees imposed by this subsection (5) shall be in addition to all other taxes and fees imposed for license plates issued pursuant to this section.
Special license plates issued under this section shall be renewed in the same manneras other license plates under section 42-3-113 or, for personalized plates, under section 42-3211.
Source: L. 2005: (4) amended, p. 144, § 16, effective April 5; entire article amended with relocations, p. 1129, § 2, effective August 8.
Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 42-3-116.7 as it existed prior to 2005.
(2) Subsection (4) was originally numbered as § 42-3-116.7 (5), and the amendments to it in Senate Bill 05-041 were harmonized with § 42-3-217 (4) as it appears in House Bill 051107.