§251-3 Certificate of registration. (a) Each person as a condition precedent to engaging or continuing in the business of providing rental motor vehicles to the public, engaging or continuing in the tour vehicle operator business, or engaging or continuing in a car-sharing organization business shall register with the director. A person required to so register shall make a one-time payment of $20, upon receipt of which the director shall issue a certificate of registration in such form as the director determines, attesting that the registration has been made. The registration shall not be transferable and shall be valid only for the person in whose name it is issued and for the transaction of business at the place designated therein. The registration, or in lieu thereof a notice stating where the registration may be inspected and examined, shall at all times be conspicuously displayed at the place for which it is issued.

(b) The registration shall be effective until canceled in writing. Any application for the reissuance of a previously canceled registration identification number shall be regarded as a new registration application and shall be subject to the payment of the one-time registration fee in subsection (a). The director may revoke or cancel any certificate of registration issued under this chapter for cause as provided by rule under chapter 91.

(c) If the registration fee is paid, the department shall not refuse to issue a registration or revoke or cancel a registration for the exercise of a privilege protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, or for the carrying on of interstate or foreign commerce, or for any privilege the exercise of which, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, cannot be restrained on account of nonpayment of taxes, nor shall section 251-13 be invoked to restrain the exercise of such a privilege, or the carrying on of such commerce.

(d) Any person who may lawfully be required by the State, and who is required by this chapter, to register as a condition precedent to engaging or continuing in the business of providing rental motor vehicles or tour vehicles to the public subject to taxation under this chapter, who engages or continues in the business without registering in conformity with this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any officer or director of a corporation who permits, aids, or abets the corporation to engage or continue in business without registering in conformity with this chapter, shall likewise be guilty of a misdemeanor. The penalty for the misdemeanors shall be that prescribed by section 231-34 for violation of that section. [L 1991, c 263, pt of §1; am L 2014, c 110, §5]