HOUSE BILL NO. 235 Offered January 9, 2008 Prefiled December 28, 2007 A BILL to amend and reenact § 46.2-711 of the Code of Virginia, relating to cancellation of certain license plates. ---------- Patron-- Cosgrove ---------- Committee Referral Pending ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 46.2-711 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 46.2-711. Furnishing number and design of plates; displaying on vehicles required.

A. The Department shall furnish one license plate for every registered motorcycle, tractor truck, semitrailer, or trailer, and two license plates for every other registered motor vehicle, except to licensed motor vehicle dealers and persons delivering unladen vehicles who shall be furnished one license plate. The license plates for trailers, semitrailers, commercial vehicles, and trucks, other than license plates for dealers, may be of such design as to prevent removal without mutilating some part of the indicia forming a part of the license plate, when secured to the bracket.

B. The Department shall issue appropriately designated license plates for:

1. Passenger-carrying vehicles for rent or hire for the transportation of passengers for private trips;

2. Taxicabs;

3. Passenger-carrying vehicles operated by common carriers or restricted common carriers;

4. Property-carrying motor vehicles to applicants who operate as private carriers only;

5. Applicants who operate motor vehicles as carriers for rent or hire; and

6. Trailers and semitrailers.

C. The Department shall issue appropriately designated license plates for motor vehicles held for rental as defined in § 58.1-2401.

D. No vehicles shall be operated on the highways in the Commonwealth without displaying the license plates required by this chapter. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to vehicles used to collect and deliver the Unites United States mail to the extent that their rear license plates may be covered by the "CAUTION, FREQUENT STOPS, U.S. MAIL" sign when the vehicle is engaged in the collection and delivery of the United States mail.

E. Pickup or panel trucks are exempt from the provisions of subsection B with reference to displaying for-hire license plates when operated as a carrier for rent or hire. However, this exemption shall not apply to pickup or panel trucks subject to regulation under Chapter 21 (§ 46.2-2100 et seq.) of this title.

When any person who has registered a vehicle with the Department shows to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the license plates issued for display on another vehicle registered with the Department have a combination of letters and numbers sufficiently similar to the combination of letters and numbers of the license plates issued for display on his vehicle that law-enforcement agencies and toll facility operators have frequently and repeatedly mistakenly identified his vehicle as being in violation of law or as having failed to pay a toll, the Commissioner shall cancel the license plates of the vehicle that was actually involved with the violation of law or failure to pay a toll and issue new license plates for that vehicle with a substantially different combination of letters and numbers.