§ 31-3-112. Special plate for Gaspee Days Committee. (a) The administrator of the division of motor vehicles is empowered to make available special motor vehicle registration plates for the Gaspee Days Committee (hereafter referred to as "the Gaspee Days committee"). The plates shall be designed to reference the Gaspee Days committee.

(b) The special plate shall be displayed upon the same registration number assigned to the vehicle for which it was issued and shall be used in place of, and in the same manner as, the registration plates issued to the vehicle. The original registration plates for the vehicle shall be removed from the vehicle and returned to the division of motor vehicles. The registration certificate for the plates shall be carried in the vehicle in accordance with § 31-3-9. The registration certificate shall be in effect for the special plates.

(c) The Gaspee Days committee motor vehicle plates shall be the same size as regular motor vehicle plates and shall be designed by the Gaspee Days committee, in conjunction with the division of motor vehicles, with design approval by the Rhode Island state police.

(d) The Gaspee Days committee plates shall be subject to a minimum prepaid order of at least nine hundred (900) sets of plates per plate type (i.e. passenger, commercial, etc.). The Gaspee Days committee plates shall not be issued unless the minimum order(s) requirements are met. The initial order will be handled by the Gaspee Days committee and shall not be submitted to the division of motor vehicles for production until the minimum order(s) have been met and the proper paperwork submitted to the division.

(e) The administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall develop prepayment procedures and any other procedures deemed necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(f) In addition to the regular prescribed motor vehicle registration fee, the Gaspee Days committee plates shall be subject to a forty-dollar ($40.00) issuance surcharge.

(g) The forty-dollar ($40.00) issuance surcharge shall be allocated as follows: Twenty dollars ($20.00) shall be allocated to the general fund and the remaining twenty dollars ($20.00) shall be distributed annually to the Gaspee Days committee in furtherance of its mission.

(h) A ten-dollar ($10.00) surcharge for subsequent registration renewals shall be allocated to the Gaspee Days committee.

(i) In consideration of the receipt of funds from the registration of the Gaspee Days plates, the foundation must use any Rhode Island sourced funds, in, and for the benefit of, Rhode Island-based charitable organizations.

(j) The Gaspee Days committee shall be required to submit an annual accounting report before such monies are distributed.

(k) There shall be no refunds for early cancellation of Gaspee Days committee plates.

History of Section. (P.L. 2017, ch. 231, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 332, § 1.)