(A) The legislative authority of a municipal corporation may establish, by ordinance or resolution, a voluntary motor vehicle decal registration program to be controlled by the director of public safety of the municipal corporation and conducted by the police department of the municipal corporation. The legislative authority may establish a fee for participation in the program in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of administering the program and the cost of the decals.

(B) Any resident of the municipal corporation may enroll a motor vehicle that he owns in the program by signing a consent form, displaying the decal issued under this section, and paying the prescribed fee. The motor vehicle owner shall remove the decal to withdraw from the program and also prior to the sale or transfer of ownership of the vehicle. Any law enforcement officer may conduct, at any place within this state at which the officer would be permitted to arrest the person operating the vehicle, an investigatory stop of any motor vehicle displaying a decal issued under this section when the vehicle is being driven between the hours of one a.m. and five a.m. A law enforcement officer may conduct an investigatory stop under this division regardless of whether the officer observes a violation of law involving the vehicle or whether he has probable cause to believe that any violation of law involving the vehicle has occurred.

(C) The consent form required under division (B) of this section shall:

(1) Describe the conditions for participation in the program, including a description of an investigatory stop and a statement that any law enforcement officer may conduct, at any place within this state at which the officer would be permitted to arrest the person operating the vehicle, an investigatory stop of the motor vehicle when it is being driven between the hours of one a.m. and five a.m.

(2) Contain other information identifying the vehicle and owner as the director of public safety of the municipal corporation or the chief of police considers necessary.

(D) The state director of public safety, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt rules governing the color, size, and design of decals issued under this section and the location where the decals shall be displayed on vehicles that are enrolled in the program.

(E) Divisions (A) to (D) and (G) of this section do not require a law enforcement officer to conduct an investigatory stop of a vehicle displaying a decal issued under this section or under a program described in division (G) of this section.

(F) As used in this section:

(1) "Investigatory stop" means a temporary stop of a motor vehicle and its operator and occupants for purposes of determining the identity of the person who is operating the vehicle and, if the person who is operating it is not its owner, whether any violation of law has occurred or is occurring. An "investigatory stop" is not an arrest, but, if an officer who conducts an investigatory stop determines that illegal conduct has occurred or is occurring, an "investigatory stop" may be the basis for an arrest.

(2) "Law enforcement officer" means a sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, police officer of a township or joint police district, marshal, deputy marshal, municipal police officer, or state highway patrol trooper.

(G) Any motor vehicle decal registration program that was in existence on June 1, 1993, and administered by a municipal corporation shall not be required to conform in any manner to this section and may continue to be administered in the manner in which it was administered on that date.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.

Effective Date: 10-20-1994 .