South Carolina § 56-3-2250 - Sample and souvenir license plates; application for personalized special organizational souvenir license plate; penalties.

§ 56-3-2250. Sample and souvenir license plates; application for personalized special organizational souvenir license plate; penalties.

(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may provide, upon request, a sample motor vehicle license plate. The license plate shall be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates. The fee for issuance of such license plate shall be ten dollars. The department may retain the ten dollar fee to recoup its cost for producing the license plate.

(B)(1) The department is authorized to produce, upon request, souvenir license plates for any special organizational license plate produced pursuant to Section 56-3-8000 or Section 56-3-8100 or any other special organizational license plate authorized by law. In order for a special organizational license plate to be available as a souvenir license plate, the sponsoring organization, if there is one, must agree to make the license plate available as a souvenir license plate.

(2) The fee for the special organizational souvenir license plate is twenty dollars. Ten dollars of this fee shall be retained by the department as specified in subsection (A), and the additional ten dollars shall be distributed to the sponsoring organization.

(C) The department shall determine the method to designate the sample and souvenir license plates described in this section.

(D)(1) An individual may apply for a personalized special organizational souvenir license plate with a license plate text to be selected by the applicant in a letter and numeral plate text format the department prescribes. The department, in its discretion, may refuse the issuance of letter or number combinations which may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency.

(2) In order for a special organizational license plate to be available as a personalized souvenir license plate, the sponsoring organization, if there is one, must agree to make the license plate available as a souvenir license plate.

(3) The fee for the license plate contained in this subsection is thirty dollars. Twenty dollars of this fee shall be retained by the department to defray the expenses of the department. Ten dollars of this fee shall be distributed to the organization described in subsection (B).

(E) These sample or souvenir license plates may be displayed only on the front of private passenger motor vehicles as defined in Section 56-3-630 or as otherwise allowed by law in the owner's home state and shall not be displayed on the back of any vehicle registered or required to be registered in this State or as otherwise allowed by law in the owner's home state.

(F) Any person displaying a license plate in violation of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days for each violation.

HISTORY: 1976 Act No. 738 SECTION 1; 1993 Act No. 181, SECTION 1387; 2016 Act No. 186 (H.3927), SECTION 2, eff May 25, 2017.