(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue special motor vehicle license plates to owners of private passenger carrying motor vehicles or light pickups having an empty weight of six thousand pounds or less and a gross weight of nine thousand pounds or less registered in their names that shall have imprinted on the plate an emblem, seal, or other symbol associated with the South Carolina Parrot Head Club Council. The South Carolina Parrot Head Club Council must submit to the department written authorization to use a copyrighted or registered logo, trademark, or design on the special license plate. The South Carolina Parrot Head Club Council may request a change in the emblem, seal, or other symbol not more than once every five years. The fee charged for the special license plate shall be adjusted as necessary to account for any additional expenses associated with a change in design. The fee for this special license plate is thirty dollars every two years in addition to the regular motor vehicle license fee set forth in Article 5. This special license plate must be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates. The special license plates must be issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month they are issued.

(B) From the fees collected pursuant to this article, the Comptroller General shall place into the State Highway Fund as established by Section 57-11-20, to be distributed as provided in Section 11-43-167, an amount equal to the expenses associated with producing and administering the distribution of the license plate. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee shall be distributed to the South Carolina Parrot Head Club Council, which shall only use the funds to support the Palmetto Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and the Upstate South Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

(C) Notwithstanding the provisions contained in Section 56-3-8100, before the Department of Motor Vehicles produces and distributes a special license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive:

(1) four hundred or more prepaid applications for the special license plate or four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of the license plate; and

(2) a plan to market the sale of the plate approved by the department.

(D) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for the special license plate authorized by this article, it may not produce additional special license plates in this series. However, the department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.

HISTORY: 2006 Act No. 286, Section 1, eff May 23, 2006; 2016 Act No. 275 (S.1258), Section 71, eff July 1, 2016.