Colorado § 42-3-256 - Special plates - hospice and palliative care.

§ 42-3-256. Special plates - hospice and palliative care.

(1) On and after January 1, 2022, the department shall issue special license plates to qualified applicants in accordance with this section for motorcycles, passenger cars, trucks, or noncommercial or recreational motor vehicles that do not exceed sixteen thousand pounds empty weight.

(2) (a) There is hereby established the hospice and palliative care license plate.

(b) The department shall use a design from an organization meeting the standards of subsection (3) of this section, but the design must conform to department standards and be approved by the department.

(3) (a) At least once every five years, the department shall designate an organization to qualify applicants to be issued the hospice and palliative care license plate. The organization must:

(I) Be incorporated or based in Colorado;

(II) Have been in existence for at least forty years;

(III) Hold an annual statewide hospice or palliative care conference in Colorado;

(IV) Provide education and educational resources about Colorado hospice and palliative care to Colorado providers of care and to members of the public; and

(V) Be a nonprofit organization, as the term is used in 26 U.S.C. sec. 501 (c)(3).

(b) (I) A person may apply for a hospice and palliative care license plate if the person pays the taxes and fees required under this section and provides to the department or an authorized agent a certificate issued by the organization chosen in accordance with this subsection (3) confirming that the applicant has made a donation to the designated organization. The organization may establish a minimum donation amount to qualify for the license plate. The organization shall use each donation to support hospice and palliative care programming in Colorado.

(II) The department shall not renew the registration of a hospice and palliative care license plate unless the person who was issued the license plate meets the qualifications established by the organization chosen in accordance with this subsection (3) to renew the license plate. The organization may require specific levels of donations, not to exceed one hundred dollars, to renew the license plate.

(c) To qualify applicants to be issued a hospice and palliative care license plate, the organization chosen in accordance with this subsection (3) must file with the department an annual statement verifying that it is a nonprofit organization.

(4) The amount of the taxes and fees for special license plates under this section is the same as the amount of the taxes and fees for regular motor vehicle license plates; except that the department shall collect an additional one-time fee of twenty-five dollars for issuance or replacement of the license plates. The department shall transmit the additional one-time fee to the state treasurer, who shall credit the fee to the highway users tax fund created in section 43-4-201.

(5) A person may apply for personalized hospice and palliative care license plates. Upon payment of the additional fee required by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) for personalized license plates, the department may issue the license plates if the applicant complies with section 42-3-211. If an applicant has existing personalized license plates for a motor vehicle, the applicant may transfer the combination of letters or numbers to a new set of hospice and palliative care license plates for the vehicle after paying the fee required by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) and turning in the existing plates to the department. A person who has obtained personalized license plates under this subsection (5) must pay the annual fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(b) for renewal of the personalized plates. The fees under this subsection (5) are in addition to all other applicable taxes and fees.

Source: L. 2021: Entire section added, (HB 21-1128), ch. 321, p. 1971, § 1, effective September 7.