GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
SESSION LAW 2009-456
HOUSE BILL 67
AN ACT to prohibit the covering of the STate name, year sticker, or month sticker on a State license plate by a LICENSE plate frame and to direct the joint legislative transportation oversight committee and the revenue laws study committee to study the authorization of special registration plates.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 20‑63(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g) Alteration, Disguise, or Concealment of
Numbers. – Any operator of a motor vehicle who shall willfully mutilate, bend,
twist, cover or cause to be covered or partially covered by any bumper, light,
spare tire, tire rack, strap, or other device, or who shall paint, enamel,
emboss, stamp, print, perforate, or alter or add to or cut off any part or
portion of a registration plate or the figures or letters thereon, or who shall
place or deposit or cause to be placed or deposited any oil, grease, or other
substance upon such registration plates for the purpose of making dust adhere
thereto, or who shall deface, disfigure, change, or attempt to change any
letter or figure thereon, or who shall display a number plate in other than a
horizontal upright position, shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. Any
operator of a motor vehicle who shall willfully cover or cause to be covered
any part or portion of a registration plate or the figures or letters thereon
by any device designed or intended to prevent or interfere with the taking of a
clear photograph of a registration plate by a traffic control or toll
collection system using cameras commits an infraction and shall be fined under G.S. 14‑3.1.
Any operator of a motor vehicle who shall otherwise intentionally cover any
number or registration renewal sticker on a registration plate with any
material that makes the number or registration renewal sticker illegible
commits an infraction and shall be fined under G.S. 14‑3.1. Any
operator of a motor vehicle who covers the State name, year sticker, or month
sticker on a registration plate with a license plate frame commits an infraction
and shall be fined under G.S. 14‑3.1. Nothing in this subsection
shall prohibit the use of transparent covers that aredo not designed
or intended toprevent or interfere with the taking of a clear photograph of
a registration plate by a traffic control or toll collection system using
cameras."
SECTION 2. The Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee, in consultation with the Revenue Laws Study Committee, must study the authorization of special registration plates under Part 5 of Article 3 of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes and the issuance of special registration plates with a design that is not a "First in Flight" design. As part of its study, the Division of Motor Vehicles must report to the Committee the special registration plates that have been authorized but for which the Division has not received the minimum 300 applications. It is the intent of the General Assembly to repeal the authorization for a special plate that has not received at least 300 applications within two years of its authorization.
SECTION 3. Section 1 of this act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date. During the period from December 1, 2009, to November 30, 2010, an operator of a motor vehicle who violates this act shall be given a warning of violation only. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 30th day of July, 2009.
s/ Walter H. Dalton
President of the Senate
s/ Joe Hackney
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
Governor
Approved 12:22 p.m. this 7th day of August, 2009