(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue special motor vehicle license plates to owners of private passenger motor vehicles as defined in Section 56-3-630 registered in their names which may have imprinted on the plates an emblem, a seal, or other symbol the department considers appropriate to NASCAR or a NASCAR driver or team. NASCAR or a NASCAR driver or team may submit to the department for approval of the emblem, seal, or other symbol it desires to be used for its respective special license plate. Before a design is approved, NASCAR or the NASCAR driver or team must submit to the department written authorization for the use of a copyrighted or registered logo, trademark, or design. NASCAR or a NASCAR driver or team also may request a change in its respective emblem, seal, or other symbol once the existing supply has been exhausted. The fee for each special license plate is seventy dollars every two years in addition to the regular motor vehicle license fee set forth in Article 5. Each special license plate must be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates. Each special license plate must be issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month the special license plate is issued.

(B) The department may also provide, upon request, special NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team collector license plates which shall not be displayed on any vehicle registered or required to be registered in this State. Any person displaying the special NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team collector license plates on any vehicle registered or required to be registered in this State is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than one hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than thirty days. The special NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team collector license plates shall be the same size and general design of the regular NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team special motor vehicle license plates. The fee for issuance of the special NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team collector license plates is twenty-five dollars. The words "collector license plate" shall be imprinted on the special NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team collector license plates.

(C) From the fees collected pursuant to this section, 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 of producing the special license plates. The remaining funds must be distributed in the following manner:

(1) one-half deposited in a special account, separate and apart from the General Fund, designated the "South Carolina Children's Emergency Shelter Fund" established within and administered for use by the Department of Social Services. The Department of Social Services shall distribute at least one-half of the funds from the special account to the South Carolina Association of Children's Homes and Family Services for the benefit of the South Carolina children's emergency shelters. Funds distributed to the South Carolina Association of Children's Homes and Family Services may be used only for providing donations to support the South Carolina children's emergency shelters. Funds received by the South Carolina Association of Children's Homes and Family Services pursuant to this section must be deposited in an appropriate nonprofit account designated by the South Carolina Association of Children's Homes and Family Services;

(2) one-fourth deposited in a special account, separate and apart from the General Fund, designated the "South Carolina Sports Development Office Fund" established within and administered for use by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to promote the South Carolina Sports Development Office; and

(3) one-fourth deposited in a special account, separate and apart from the General Fund designated the "NASCAR License Plate Highway Safety Fund" established within and administered for use by the Department of Public Safety to promote highway safety in conjunction with the Department of Transportation and NASCAR or a NASCAR driver or team.

(D) Before the department produces and distributes NASCAR's or a NASCAR driver's or team's respective special license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive four hundred prepaid applications for NASCAR's or the NASCAR driver's or team's respective special license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of NASCAR's or the NASCAR driver's or team's respective license plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an individual or organization pursuant to this section, the department must refund the four thousand dollars once an equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for the NASCAR or NASCAR driver's or team's respective license plate. If the equivalent amount is not collected within four years of the first issuance of the respective license plate, the department shall retain the deposit.

(E) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular NASCAR or NASCAR driver or team special license plate, it may choose not to produce additional special license plates in that series. However, the department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.

HISTORY: 2001 Act No. 104, Section 1; 2008 Act No. 347, Section 33, eff June 16, 2008; 2009 Act No. 65, Section 1, eff June 2, 2009; 2016 Act No. 275 (S.1258), Section 67, eff July 1, 2016.