(1) Whenever the Department of Motor Vehicles suspends or revokes the license of a person under its lawful authority, the license remains suspended or revoked and must not be reinstated or renewed nor may another license be issued to that person until he also remits to the department a reinstatement fee of one hundred dollars for each suspension on his driving record that has not been reinstated. The reinstatement fee may be paid to the clerk of court or magistrate at the time of the verdict, guilty plea, or plea of nolo contendere for the offense for which the license is suspended or revoked. If the fee is paid at the time of the verdict, guilty plea, or plea of nolo contendere, the clerk or magistrate shall remit the fee to the department pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 56-1-365(B). The director or his designee may waive or return the reinstatement fee if it is determined that the suspension or revocation is based upon a lack of notice being given to the department or other similar error.
(2) The fees collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles under this provision must be distributed as follows: seventy dollars must be placed by the Comptroller General into the State Highway Fund as established by Section 57-11-20, to be distributed as provided in Section 11-43-167, and one dollar must be credited to the "Keep South Carolina Beautiful Fund" established pursuant to Section 56-3-3950. From the "Keep South Carolina Beautiful Fund", the Department of Transportation shall expend funds necessary to employ, within the Department of Transportation, a person with training in horticulture to administer a program for beautifying the rights-of-way along state highways and roads. The remainder of the fees collected pursuant to this section must be credited to the Department of Transportation State Non-Federal Aid Highway Fund.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 46-185.1; 1970 (56) 1911. 1990 Act No. 596, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1317; 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 86A; 1996 Act No. 459, Section 90; 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 104; 2001 Act No. 79, Section 2.D; 2005 Act No. 176, Section 8, eff June 14, 2005; 2016 Act No. 275 (S.1258), Section 18, eff July 1, 2016.