(a) The Commissioner shall file each application received and, when satisfied as to its genuineness and regularity and that the applicant is entitled to the issuance of a certificate of title, shall issue a certificate of title of the vehicle.

(b) The Commissioner shall maintain at his or her central office a record of all certificates of title issued by him or her for vehicles 15 years old and newer, and of all exempt vehicle titles issued by him or her, under a distinctive title number assigned to the vehicle; under the identification number of the vehicle; alphabetically, under the name of the owner; and, in the discretion of the Commissioner, by any other method he or she determines. The original records may be maintained on microfilm or electronic imaging. (Added 1969, No. 297 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1971; amended 1979, No. 187 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1983, No. 60, § 4; 1991, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 2009, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 16; 2015, No. 50, § 33a, eff. Jan. 1, 2016.)