SENATE, No. 245

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Senator ZANE

An Act concerning certain motor vehicle registration fees and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. If a personalized, courtesy or special license plate is issued to the lessee in a motor vehicle leasing agreement, the license plate may be transferred at the termination of the leasing agreement to another motor vehicle leased or owned by the lessee. The license plate may be transferred upon application to the director and upon payment of a fee of $4.50.

    2. The director may promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C. 52:14B-1 et seq.) to effectuate the purposes of this act.

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would allow people who lease motor vehicles and obtain personalized, courtesy or special license plates to transfer those license plates to their other vehicles after a lease agreement ends. Currently, personalized license plates are considered registered to the motor vehicle and not to the person who applies for them. This means that the personalized plates must be surrendered and reapplied for when intended for use on another vehicle, even if done by the original holder of the plates. The result is the redundant payment of application fees for the same license plates. This current system disfavors those who choose to lease instead of purchase a motor vehicle. This bill would allow lessees to pay the same fee to transfer their personalized, courtesy or special license plates as do those who own their motor vehicles.

Enables transfer of personalized license plates from leased vehicles.