SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1570

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 30, 2023

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1570, with committee amendments.

      As amended and reported, this bill authorizes the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (commission) to issue special license plates to the alumni of four-year public institutions of higher education.  Specifically, the bill directs the commission to establish and administer a license plate program for each four-year public institution of higher education. 

      For each alumni license plate program, the bill provides that the design of the alumni license plates is to display appropriate words or a slogan and an emblem honoring the applicable four-year public institution of higher education.  The chief administrator, in consultation with an alumni association of each four-year public institution of higher education, is to select the design and color scheme of the alumni license plates for the respective alumni license plate programs.

      In addition to all fees otherwise required by law for the registration of a motor vehicle, the bill imposes an application fee of $50 and an annual renewal fee of $10 for the alumni license plates.  After the deduction of the cost of designing, producing, issuing, renewing, and publicizing the plates and of any computer programming changes that are necessary to implement each alumni license plate program, any additional fee collections are required to be deposited into the special non-lapsing fund established for each four-year public institution of higher education.  The proceeds of each fund are to be annually appropriated to an alumni association of the applicable four-year public institution of higher education to support the organization’s mission and programs.

      The chief administrator is required to annually certify the average cost of producing, issuing, renewing, and publicizing the availability of the alumni license plates for each alumni license plate program.  If the average cost per plate exceeds $50 in two consecutive fiscal years, the chief administrator may discontinue an alumni license plate program.  The bill also requires the director of an alumni association to appoint a liaison to represent the alumni association in all communications with the commission regarding the alumni license plates. 

      The bill prohibits the use of State or other public funds by the commission to cover the initial cost to implement an alumni license plate program.  The bill requires an alumni association or an individual or entity designated by an alumni association to contribute non-public monies, not to exceed $25,000, to offset the initial costs to design, produce, issue, and publicize the license plates and for computer programming changes which may be necessary to implement the program.  The bill authorizes an alumni association of a four-year public institution of higher education to receive funds from private sources to offset the initial costs. 

      Under the bill, the commission is not required to design, produce, issue, or publicize the availability of alumni license plates or make any necessary programming changes, until: (1) an alumni association or the individual or entity designated by an alumni association has provided the commission with the money necessary to offset the initial costs incurred by the commission in establishing the license plate program; and (2) the liaison of an alumni association has provided the commission with a minimum of 500 completed applications for the license plates.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 1570 is identical to Senate Bill No. 2216, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

(1)  expand the provisions of the bill from alumni license plates for Rowan University to special license plates for alumni of all four-year public institutions of higher education in the State;

(2)  define certain terms used in the bill, including “chief administrator,” “commission,” “four-year public institution of higher education” and “special non-lapsing fund;”

(3)  revise the effective date of the bill to remove requirements for the bill to remain inoperative for a certain period of time and to expire in certain circumstances; and

(4)  provide technical corrections to the bill.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that the bill will potentially produce annual State revenue and expenditure increases that will largely offset one another.  The OLS cannot quantify these potential annual increases because it is unclear how many applications for the alumni license plates the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission will receive across the different alumni license plate programs.  However, the OLS notes that the commission would not be required to implement any alumni license plate program until the commission has received a minimum of 500 applications for the alumni license plates.