HOUSE TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC WORKS AND CAPITAL

IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 141

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; ENACTING A NEW SECTION OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE CODE TO ESTABLISH A CONCERNS OF POLICE SURVIVORS, C.O.P.S., SPECIAL REGISTRATION PLATE; ALLOWING FOR A CESSATION OF ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Motor Vehicle Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SPECIAL CONCERNS OF POLICE SURVIVORS, C.O.P.S., REGISTRATION PLATE.--

          A. The division shall issue a standardized concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plate with a logo designed pursuant to Section 66-3-424 NMSA 1978 to recognize the families and friends of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

          B. For an initial fee of forty-five dollars ($45.00), which shall be in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fees, the owner of a vehicle may apply for issuance of a concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plate. The vehicle owner shall pay a renewal fee of thirty-five dollars ($35.00) each year to retain and renew the concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plate.

          C. The revenue from the additional fee for a concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plate shall be distributed as follows:

                (1) ten dollars ($10.00) of the initial fee collected shall be retained by and is appropriated to the department to defray the cost of making and issuing the special registration plate with the concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., logo; and

                 (2) thirty-five dollars ($35.00) of the initial registration fee and the entire thirty-five dollars ($35.00) of subsequent renewal fees shall be distributed to the law enforcement protection fund.

          D. Beginning on July 1, 2026, and on July 1 of each subsequent year, the department shall compare the number of concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plates issued or registration renewals for those plates in the previous fiscal year with the average of the number of such plates issued in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

          E. By September 1 of a fiscal year in which the department determines that the number of concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plates issued or registration renewals for those plates in the previous fiscal year is less than fifty percent of the average number of such plates issued in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the department shall stop issuing concerns of police survivors, C.O.P.S., special registration plates."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2023.

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