(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue special motor vehicle license plates to owners of private passenger motor vehicles as defined in Section 56-3-630 registered in their names, which may have imprinted on the plate an emblem, a seal, or other symbol approved by Sertoma International and the department. Sertoma International may submit to the department for approval of the emblem, seal, or other symbol it desires to be used for its respective special license plate. Before a design is approved, however, Sertoma International must submit to the department written authorization for the use of a copyrighted or registered logo, trademark, or design. Sertoma International also may request a change in the emblem, seal, or other symbol once the existing supply has been exhausted. The fee for each special license plate is seventy dollars every two years in addition to the regular motor vehicle license fee set forth in Article 5, Chapter 3 of this title. Each special license plate must be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates. Each special license plate must be issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month the special license plate is issued.
(B) The fees collected pursuant to this section, after the costs to produce and administer the distribution of the special license plate have been satisfied, must be distributed to the "Camp Sertoma Fund" created by Sertoma International for the continued support of Camp Sertoma. The fund must be administered by Sertoma International and may be used only for Camp Sertoma. Any funds collected must be deposited in an appropriate nonprofit account designated by Sertoma International.
(C) Before the department produces and distributes the Sertoma International special license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive:
(1) four hundred or more prepaid applications for the special license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of the license plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an individual or organization pursuant to this section, the department must refund the four thousand dollars once an equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for that organization's license plate. If the equivalent amount is not collected within four years of the first issuance of the respective license plate, the department must retain the deposit;
(2) a plan to market the sale of the special license plate which must be approved by the department.
(D) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular special license plate, it may not produce additional special license plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.
HISTORY: 2001 Act No. 104, Section 3; 2008 Act No. 347, Section 34, eff June 16, 2008.