Colorado § 42-3-214 - Special plates - alumni associations - retirement.

§ 42-3-214. Special plates - alumni associations - retirement.

(1) The department shall issue one or more sets of special alumni license plates to applicants under this section for passenger cars or trucks that do not exceed sixteen thousand pounds empty weight. For the purposes of this section, recreational vehicles that do not exceed sixteen thousand pounds empty weight shall be classified as passenger cars.

(2) (a) An alumni association for a private or public college or university located within Colorado may apply directly to the department for the establishment of a special license plate for the alumni association. The department shall accept applications to establish special alumni license plates annually according to the schedule established by the department. An alumni association shall not apply for a license plate until the alumni association has commitments for license plate purchases from at least five hundred persons and provides a list of the names and addresses of such persons to the department.

(b) An alumni association applying for the establishment of a special alumni license plate is responsible for all costs of designing such plate and shall pay such costs before the license plate is produced. Any design for a special alumni license plate shall conform with standards established by the department and shall be approved by the department.

(c) For the purpose of this section, "college or university" means an institution of higher education that offers at least a bachelor degree in an educational program and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association.

(3) (a) A person may apply for a special alumni license plate for a motor vehicle if the person pays the taxes and fees required under this section and provides the department or authorized agent a certificate issued by the alumni association confirming that such person meets the qualifications for the license plate established by the alumni association pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (3). The department shall prepare a certificate form to be used by alumni associations when confirming that a person is eligible to obtain special alumni license plates.

(b) An alumni association may establish the following qualifications to use the special alumni license plates:

(I) Membership in the alumni association; or

(II) Specified levels of contributions to the college or university.

(III) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2008, p. 1286, § 1, effective May 27, 2008.)

(c) An alumni association establishing qualifications to use special license plates shall set a one-time fee to qualify for the special license plates, which fee shall be used for the following purposes:

(I) Scholarships for students attending the university or college; or

(II) Support of academic programs at the university or college.

(4) The amount of the taxes and fees for special alumni license plates under this section is the same as the amount of the taxes and fees specified for regular motor vehicle license plates plus a one-time fee of twenty-five dollars for each motor vehicle to issue or replace such 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 for allocation and expenditure as specified in section 43-4-205 (5.5)(b), C.R.S.

(5) An applicant may apply for personalized special alumni license plates. Upon payment of the additional fee required by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) for personalized license plates, the department may issue such plates if the applicant complies with section 42-3-211. If any 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 special alumni license plates for the vehicle upon paying the fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(a) and upon turning such existing plates in to the department as required by the department. A person who has obtained personalized special alumni license plates under this subsection (5) shall pay the annual fee imposed by section 42-3-211 (6)(b) for renewal of such personalized plates. The fees under this subsection (5) are in addition to all other taxes and fees imposed for the special alumni license plates.

(6) Special alumni license plates shall be renewed in the same manner as other license plates under section 42-3-113 or, for personalized plates, under section 42-3-211.

(7) The department shall retire the special alumni license plates authorized by this section unless the plates have been issued for at least five hundred vehicles by July 1, 2016. A person who was issued a special alumni license plate on or before July 1, 2016, may continue to use the plate after July 1, 2016.

Source: L. 2005: (4) amended, p. 144, § 13, effective April 5; entire article amended with relocations, p. 1124, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2007: (7) amended, p. 1986, § 2, effective June 1. L. 2008: IP(3)(b), (3)(b)(III), and (7) amended and (3)(c) added, p. 1286, § 1, effective May 27. L. 2011: (7) amended, (HB 11-1236), ch. 98, p. 286, § 2, effective April 8.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 42-3-115.7 as it existed prior to 2005.

(2) Subsection (4) was originally numbered as § 42-3-115.7 (5)(a), and the amendments to it in Senate Bill 05-041 were harmonized with § 42-3-214 (4) as it appears in House Bill 05-1107.