A. On receipt of an application and payment of the fee prescribed by this section, the Commissioner shall issue special license plates to supporters of the Virginia Motor Sports Initiative.

B. The Commissioner may enter into agreements for the purchase of distinctive license plates bearing the name of a specific professional stock car driver and the race car number and color scheme used by that driver, or for distinctive general motor sports-themed license plates, for issuance as provided in this section. The design of such license plates shall be as mutually agreed by the Commissioner and the supplier of such license plates. The purchase price of such plates shall be as agreed between the Commissioner and the supplier or other entity, but shall in no case exceed a total, one-time cost of $15 for each set of license plates. In the event that a race car number, color scheme, or both, change for a driver with a currently issued series, a new series for that driver may be issued subject to the requirements of this section.

The provisions of subdivision B 1 of § 46.2-725 shall not apply to license plates issued under this section.

C. The annual fee for plates issued pursuant to this section shall be $25 in addition to the prescribed fee for state license plates. For each such $25 fee collected in excess of 1,000 registrations pursuant to this section, $15 shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the special nonreverting fund known as the Virginia Motor Sports Initiative Fund established within the Department of Accounts and paid annually in equal amounts to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority and the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and used to support their programs related to the Virginia Motor Sports Initiative.

In calculating the amount to be paid into such fund each year, however, there shall be deducted an amount equal to the amount paid in that year by the Department for the purchase of license plates for which the additional $25 fees have been collected for that year.

2004, c. 984; 2005, c. 554; 2013, c. 482.