license plates; decennial
issuance
dpa |
Committee on Transportation |
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Committee on Appropriations |
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Caucus and COW |
This bill as introduced contains a delayed effective date of June 30, 2004. |
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As Passed the House |
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House Bill 2522 requires the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) to reissue motor vehicle license plates, subject to legislative appropriation, with a new distinctive design at least once every ten years. In addition, HB 2522 requires MVD to recall all previously issued license plates except for certain specialty plates.
Current statute allows MVD to establish a special license plate replacement fee composed of twenty-five cents of each registration fee collected. These monies are to be deposited into the state highway fund, and subject to legislative appropriation, MVD is to use these monies to systematically replace license plates that are no longer plainly readable or to offset the costs of designing a new plate. Currently, MVD receives approximately $2.3M per year in State Highway Funds (SHF) to maintain the current license plate system.
Prior to the current desert-scape license plate, MVD began issuing a maroon and white license plate in 1980. MVD began issuing the desert-scape license plate in 1996. Both types of plates are still in use today. The reflectivity of the maroon and white plates per the state contract is to last five years. According to the manufacturer, the reflectivity of the desert-scape plate is estimated to last seven to ten years.
According to MVD, the cost to establish a new distinctive plate design to replace the maroon and desert-scape plates is approximately $15M from the SHF. This cost reflects replacing the maroon plates and the desert-scape plates beginning in Fiscal Year 2006 over a ten-year period.
A study by the Coldwater Institute for California indicates that during the past fifteen years over thirty states have reissued their license plates. Most states reissue the plates in a single year while others spread out the process over a two to four year period. The Coldwater study indicates that states that periodically replace license plates see some percentage increase in vehicle registration revenues. This increase is attributed to evaders who must obtain a new plate or be subject to fines and sanctions when displaying a discontinued license plate.