1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, the Department shall provide suitable distinguishing license plates for exempt vehicles. These plates must be displayed on the vehicles in the same manner as provided for privately owned vehicles. The fee for the issuance of the plates is $5. Any license plates authorized by this section must be immediately returned to the Department when the vehicle for which they were issued ceases to be used exclusively for the purpose for which it was exempted from the governmental services tax.

2. License plates furnished for:

(a) Those vehicles which are maintained for and used by the Governor or under the authority and direction of the Chief Parole and Probation Officer, the State Contractors’ Board and auditors, the State Fire Marshal, the Investigation Division of the Department of Public Safety and any authorized federal law enforcement agency or law enforcement agency from another state;

(b) One vehicle used by the Department of Corrections, three vehicles used by the Department of Wildlife, two vehicles used by the Caliente Youth Center and four vehicles used by the Nevada Youth Training Center;

(c) Vehicles of a city, county or the State, if authorized by the Department for the purposes of law enforcement or work related thereto or such other purposes as are approved upon proper application and justification;

(d) Two vehicles used by the office of the county coroner of any county which has created that office pursuant to NRS 244.163; and

(e) Vehicles maintained for and used by investigators of the following:

(1) The Nevada Gaming Control Board;

(2) The State Department of Agriculture;

(3) The Attorney General;

(4) City or county juvenile officers;

(5) District attorneys’ offices;

(6) Public administrators’ offices;

(7) Public guardians’ offices;

(8) Sheriffs’ offices;

(9) Police departments in the State; and

(10) The Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of State,

must not bear any distinguishing mark which would serve to identify the vehicles as owned by the State, county or city. These license plates must be issued annually for $12 per plate or, if issued in sets, per set.

3. The Director may enter into agreements with departments of motor vehicles of other states providing for exchanges of license plates of regular series for vehicles maintained for and used by investigators of the law enforcement agencies enumerated in paragraph (e) of subsection 2, subject to all of the requirements imposed by that paragraph, except that the fee required by that paragraph must not be charged.

4. Applications for the licenses must be made through the head of the department, board, bureau, commission, school district or irrigation district, or through the chair of the board of county commissioners of the county or town or through the mayor of the city, owning or controlling the vehicles, and no plate or plates may be issued until a certificate has been filed with the Department showing that the name of the department, board, bureau, commission, county, city, town, school district or irrigation district, as the case may be, and the words “For Official Use Only” have been permanently and legibly affixed to each side of the vehicle, except those vehicles enumerated in subsection 2.

5. As used in this section, “exempt vehicle” means a vehicle exempt from the governmental services tax, except a vehicle owned by the United States.

6. The Department shall adopt regulations governing the use of all license plates provided for in this section. Upon a finding by the Department of any violation of its regulations, it may revoke the violator’s privilege of registering vehicles pursuant to this section.

[Part 6:202:1931; A 1941, 51; 1949, 511; 1953, 52] — (NRS A 1957, 61, 744; 1961, 386, 630; 1963, 693; 1967, 166; 1969, 130; 1973, 85, 290, 1123; 1977, 290; 1979, 254, 931; 1981, 1529, 2006; 1983, 728; 1985, 927, 1354, 1936; 1989, 557, 1961; 1991, 2313; 1993, 31, 779, 1641; 1995, 579; 1999, 3625; 2001, 314, 2549; 2001 Special Session, 244; 2003, 289, 1565; 2009, 958)