SPECIALTY PLATES; TRAILER TAX S.B. 248: FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 248 (as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Senator Bruce Patterson
Committee: Transportation
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to do the following:
-- Allow the Secretary of State (SOS), beginning May 1, 2006, to develop and issue specialty fund-raising license plates and collector plates, if authorized by a Public Act.
-- Require a start-up fee of $15,000 for a new fund-raising license plate, and set sales goals for fund-raising license plates.
-- Require an organization that received donations from the sale of fund-raising license plates to report annually to the State Treasurer on expenditures of the money received under the bill.
-- Authorize the SOS to develop, market, and promote a collector plate only with funds available from the collection of service fees.
-- Reduce the maximum duration of a temporary permit for a fund-raising plate from 60 to 30 days.
-- Require royalty fees from the authorized use of a fund-raising plate design, logo, or image to be credited to the Transportation Administration Collection Fund, instead of the Michigan Transportation Fund.
-- Repeal the October 1, 2005, sunset date for current fund-raising license plate provisions.
-- Designate the Department of History, Arts and Libraries as the entity in charge of administering funds from the sale of lighthouse preservation specialty plates.
-- Repeal a provision related to a monthly fee for an Olympic Education-Training Center fund-raising plate.
-- Establish an effective date of October 1, 2005, on a provision related to the vehicle registration tax for a trailer.
MCL 257.217d et al. Legislative Analyst: Julie Koval
FISCAL IMPACT
The Department of State reports that in FY 2003-04, there were 196,598 fund-raising plate transactions generating $1.2 million for special causes and $1.2 million for 15 State universities. The new start-up fee and redesign fee for fund-raising plates would offset costs of creating, producing, and issuing fund-raising plates, which are currently absorbed by the Department of State.
If the sunset is not eliminated, the Department of State will have to replace fund-raising plates with standard issue plates at the next renewal date, and special causes and universities will not have the fund-raising plate option to generate revenue.
Date Completed: 9-13-05 Fiscal Analyst: Bill Bowerman
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb248/0506