(1) The department shall issue special license plates to qualified applicants in accordance with this section for motorcycles, passenger cars, trucks, or noncommercial or recreational motor vehicles that do not exceed sixteen thousand pounds empty weight.
(2) (a) There is hereby established the Mesa Verde National Park license plate.
(b) The department shall use a design from an organization meeting the standards of subsection (3) of this section, but the design must conform to department standards and be approved by the department.
(3) (a) At least once every five years, the department shall designate an organization to qualify applicants to be issued the Mesa Verde National Park license plate. The organization must:
Be headquartered in Colorado;
Have been in existence for at least twenty years;
Be a nonprofit organization exempt from taxation;
Help promote the stewardship of the park;
Fund capital improvements and other rehabilitation projects within the park;
Help fund educational programs that promote the park's cultural and natural resources; and
Have donated land to enlarge the park's boundaries.
A person may apply for a Mesa Verde National Park license plate if the person paysthe taxes and fees required under this section and provides to the department or an authorized agent a certificate issued by the organization chosen in accordance with this subsection (3) confirming that the applicant has made a donation to the organization. The organization may establish a minimum donation amount to qualify for the plate. The amount must neither be less than twenty-five dollars nor more than seventy-five dollars. The organization shall use the donation to support Mesa Verde National Park in a manner specified by the national park service.
To qualify applicants to have a Mesa Verde National Park license plate, the organization chosen in accordance with this subsection (3) must file with the department an annual statement verifying that it is a nonprofit organization.
The amount of the taxes and fees for special license plates under this section is thesame as the amount of the taxes and fees for regular motor vehicle license plates; except that the department shall collect an additional one-time fee of twenty-five dollars for issuance or replacement of the license plate. The department shall transmit the additional one-time fee to the state treasurer, who shall credit the fee to the highway users tax fund created in section 43-4-201.
A person may apply for personalized Mesa Verde National Park license plates. Uponpayment of the additional fee required by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) for personalized license plates, the department may issue the plates if the applicant complies with section 42-3-211. If an 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 Mesa Verde National Park license plates for the vehicle upon paying the fee required by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) and upon turning in the existing plates to the department. A person who has obtained personalized license plates under this subsection (5) must pay the annual fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(b) for renewal of the personalized plates. The fees under this subsection (5) are in addition to all other applicable taxes and fees.
Source: L. 2019: Entire section added, (HB 19-1255), ch. 348, p. 3235, § 1, effective August 2.