H.B. 4203: COMMITTEE SUMMARY VEHICLE REGISTRATION
House Bill 4203 (as passed by the House) Sponsor: Representative Greg Pitoniak House Committee: Transportation
Senate Committee: Transportation and Tourism Date Completed: 11-13-96
The bill would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to:
-- Permit a vehicle owner or lessee to obtain a full refund for a renewal registration plate or tab if the owner provided satisfactory proof that there existed certain conditions, as specified in the bill.
-- Exempt a converter gear and pull-dolly from the Code’s registration and titling requirements.
-- Add wreckers and buses engaged in interstate commerce to the vehicles for which a registration fee may be apportioned under the International Registration Plan.
Registration Tax Refunds
The Code specifies circumstances under which owners of vehicles required to be registered may return to the Secretary of State the registration plates or tabs and receive either a total or partial refund.
The bill also provides that, after receiving the renewal registration plate or tab issued for a registered vehicle, an owner or lessee of that vehicle could apply for and obtain from the Secretary of State a full renewal registration plate or tab refund if he or she provided satisfactory proof that all of the following applied:
-- The vehicle met at least one of the following conditions: it had been stolen and had not been recovered; its ownership was transferred or assigned; it had been registered in error as part of a fleet and had never been intended to be used in a fleet; or, its lease was canceled.
-- One of the above conditions was met before the 12-month renewal period began.
-- The renewal registration period was for 12 months only.
-- The owner or lessee returned the registration plate or tab to the Secretary of State within 30 days after the vehicle met at least one of the conditions specified above. If the plate or tab had been issued under the Code’s provisions on the International Registration Plan for trucks, truck tractors, or road tractors engaged in interstate commerce, a refund could not exceed the total amount of the Michigan apportioned fees assessed for the plate or tab.
The bill would delete the current provision under which the owner of a registered pole trailer, semitrailer or trailer who transferred or assigned title or interest in the vehicle may obtain a refund
on the registration for each unused, whole registration period remaining on the registration from the date the plates are returned and the application for a refund is made.
Registration Exemptions
Under the Code, with certain exceptions, every motor vehicle, pickup camper, trailer coach, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer, when driven or moved upon a highway, is subject to the Code’s registration and certificate of title provisions. The bill would add to the exemptions a converter gear and a pull-dolly. (“Converter gear” would mean an auxiliary undercarriage assembly with a fifth wheel and tow bar used to convert a semitrailer to a full trailer. “Pull-dolly” would mean an auxiliary towing device designed so that two wheels of a vehicle rested upon it in order to be towed by another vehicle.)
International Registration Plate
Currently, the registration fee for trucks, truck tractors, or road tractors engaged in interstate commerce, for which a registration fee otherwise is provided in the Code, may be apportioned under the International Registration Plan according to the miles traveled in the State in relation to the total miles traveled by the vehicle, if the apportionment is permitted by a reciprocal compact, agreement, or other arrangement entered into by the Michigan highway reciprocity board. The bill would add to this provision wreckers or buses engaged in interstate commerce, notwithstanding the Code’s specific tax for city, intercity, and suburban bus operators.
(Currently, “international registration plan” means a method of licensing trucks and bus fleets proportionally among two or more member jurisdictions and includes an apportioned fee that is determined according to the fleet’s percentage of miles generated in the various jurisdictions. Upon payment of the apportioned fee, one registration plate and one cab card must be issued for each vehicle with the cab card indicating the jurisdictions in which the unit is registered and the registered weight for each jurisdiction.)
MCL 257.73 et al. Legislative Analyst: L. Arasim
The bill would have minimal fiscal impact on the Michigan Transportation Fund. The Department of State estimates that the bill would result in approximately 10 additional refund requests annually.
Fiscal Analyst: B. Bowerman
S9596\S4203SA
This Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.