Bill > S2662

Introduced Session

This bill authorizes the creation of a special license plate supporting Autism Awareness. The design of the Autism Awareness license plate is to be chosen by the Chief Administrator (chief administrator) of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (commission), in consultation with the Governor's Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism (council). In addition to all fees otherwise required by law for the registration of a motor vehicle, there is an application fee of $50 and an annual renewal fee of $10 for the Autism Awareness license plates. The additional fees, after the deduction of the cost of designing, producing, issuing, renewing, and publicizing the plates and of any computer programming changes that are necessary to implement the license plate program, will be deposited into a special non-lapsing fund known as the " Autism Awareness License Plate Fund." The proceeds of the fund are to be annually appropriated to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, to be expended in consultation with the council. . The chief administrator is required to annually certify the average cost per license plate in producing, issuing, renewing, and publicizing the Autism Awareness license plates. If the average cost exceeds $50 for two consecutive fiscal years, the chief administrator may discontinue the license plate program. The bill provides that no State or other public funds may be used by the commission for the initial cost of designing, producing, issuing, and publicizing the availability of Autism Awareness license plates or any computer programming changes which may be necessary to implement the Autism Awareness license plate program. The bill also requires that an individual or entity designated by the council contribute monies in an amount to be determined by the chief administrator, not to exceed a total of $25,000, to be used to offset the initial costs incurred by the commission for designing, producing, issuing, and publicizing the availability of Autism Awareness license plates, and any computer programming which may be necessary to implement the program. The bill prohibits the commission from designing, producing, issuing, or publicizing the availability of Autism Awareness license plates, or making any necessary programming changes, until: (1) an individual or entity designated by the council has provided the commission with the money necessary to offset the initial costs incurred by the commission in establishing the Autism Awareness license plate program; and (2) the council, or its designee, has provided the commission with a minimum of 500 completed applications for Autism Awareness license plates, upon the availability for purchase of those license plates. The chief administrator is responsible for publicizing the availability of the license plates on the commission's website. The council, or any individual or entity designated by the council, may also publicize the availability of Autism Awareness license plates in any manner the council deems appropriate. The provisions of the bill will remain inoperative until the appropriate applications and fees required to offset the initial costs incurred by the commission are provided by an individual or entity designated by the council. The bill expires after 12 months if sufficient applications and fees to offset the initial costs are not received.

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Committee Categories

Tom Kean (R)*,  Steven Oroho (R)*,  Michael Doherty (R),  Nellie Pou (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Transportation Committee (on 07/06/2020)