§ 31-3-109. Special plate for Rhode Island public colleges and universities. (a) The administrator of the division of motor vehicles is empowered to make available special motor vehicle registration plates for passenger vehicles based upon the various public, nonprofit institutions of higher education (Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, and/or the University of Rhode Island).

(b) The special plate(s) shall be displayed upon the same registration number assigned to the vehicle for which it was issued and shall be used in place of, and in the same manner as, the registration plates issued to the vehicle. The original registration plates for the vehicle shall be removed from the vehicle and returned to the division of motor vehicles. The registration certificate for the plates shall be carried in the vehicle, in accordance with § 31-3-9. The registration certificate shall be in effect for the special plates.

(c) The respective public, higher-education-institution's motor vehicle plates shall be the same size as regular motor vehicle plates and shall be designed in conjunction with the division of motor vehicles, with design approval by the Rhode Island state police.

(d) Each public, higher-education-institution plate shall be subject to a minimum prepaid order of at least nine hundred (900) sets of plates per institution per plate type (i.e. passenger, commercial, etc.). The respective public, higher-education-institution plate shall not be issued unless the minimum-order requirements are met by the requesting institution. The initial order will be handled by the Rhode Island commissioner of post-secondary education or his or her designee, and shall not be submitted to the division of motor vehicles for production until the minimum order has been met and the proper paperwork submitted to the division. The Rhode Island commissioner of post-secondary education, or his or her designee, will act as program coordinator and point of contact for the division of motor vehicles. Subsequent public, higher-education-institution plate orders will be handled by the division of motor vehicles.

(e) The administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall develop prepayment procedures and any other procedures deemed necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(f) In addition to the regular prescribed motor vehicle registration fee, public, higher-education-institution plates shall be subject to a forty-dollar ($40.00) issuance surcharge.

(g) The forty-dollar ($40.00) issuance surcharge shall be allocated as follows: twenty dollars ($20.00) shall be allocated to the general fund and the remaining twenty dollars ($20.00) shall be distributed annually to the respective public, higher-education institution as a nonprofit educational institution based in Rhode Island.

(h) A ten-dollar ($10.00) surcharge for subsequent registration renewals will go to the respective public, higher-education institution.

(i) There shall be no refunds for early cancellation of public, higher-education-institution plates.

(j) Any respective public, higher-education institution not pursuing or not reaching the minimum prepaid order of plates, as outlined in subsection (d), within thirty-six (36) months after this section is enacted, will not be eligible to obtain special motor vehicle registration plates as outlined above, absent further action of the general assembly.

History of Section. (P.L. 2016, ch. 335, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 356, § 1.)