COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH

OVERSIGHT DIVISION

FISCAL NOTE

L.R. No.: 1477-03

Bill No.: Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed SCS for HB 491

Subject: Motor Vehicles; Licenses-Motor Vehicle

Type: Original

Date: May 27, 2003

FISCAL SUMMARY

Numbers within parentheses: ( ) indicate costs or losses.

This fiscal note contains 7 pages.

ASSUMPTION

Officials with Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety assume this proposal would have no impact on their organization.

Section 301.069 and 301.142-Biennial registration

Officials with Department of Revenue (DOR) assume this proposal could allow biennial registration of driveaway permits and disabled placards. The biennial registrations could cause a shift in fee income for these registration, minimal cost for procedure changes and a savings for mailing renewals. The Information Technology bureau assumes they could need 475 hours to program the General Registration System and storage cost at the State Data Center.

FY 04

Effective date is January 1, 2004 and registration is in FY 05

ASSUMPTION (continued)

FY 05- Income and Cost

Driveaway plate registration income shift $30,928

Disabled placard registration income shift $314,266

Postage, Procedures and Forms ($530)

Program Modifications ($12,360)

Total $332,304

FY 06 Income and Cost

Postage Savings $105,745

Section 301.130 Special Plate provision

Officials with DOR assume this proposal could allow owners of motor vehicles other than apportioned motor vehicles or motor vehicles licensed in excess of eighteen thousand to obtain specialty/personalized license plates. Currently there are over 100 specialty plates available. Each specialty plate is established by statute and specifies the weight categories of vehicles that may have these specialty plates. Of the 100 specialty plates approximately 33 of them set the maximum weight that can have these plates at 12,000 pounds, this proposal could allow owners of vehicles weighing 12,001 to 18,000 pounds to also obtain these types of license plates.

Currently there are 57,498 vehicles in the 12,001 to 18,000 weight category that have specialty plates. If DOR assumes that there will be an increase in this weight category of approximately 1% (575). DOR could require approximately 40 hours of OT for a Clerk Typist II and costs for forms, procedures, postage, plates and tabs. Oversight assumes that DOR could handle the requests with current staff resources.

The DOR-Information Bureau could require 308 hours of overtime programming to modify the special plate reservation program, the renewal pull program for fees, and the Uniform Field Office System (UFOS).

FY 04 Income and Cost

Special Plate Fees (#479*$15) $7,185

Procedures, Forms and Mailings ($4,371)

Plates and Tabs = ($3,588)

Programming Salaries ($7,958)

Storage Cost ($500)

Total ($9,232)

ASSUMPTION (continued)

FY 05

Special Plate Fee $8,625

Storage Cost $500

FY 06

Special Plate Fee $8,625

Storage Cost $500

To implement this legislation, DOR could require additional funds. In the past, the programs included in this legislation have been paid for with highway funds. This year, however, highway funds may not be available for this purpose as a result of legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 2000 that limits the use of highway funds.

This limitation is found in Section 226.200.3, RSMo. It places a cap on the highway funding available to state departments other than the Department of Transportation. The total amount of highway funds appropriated to these other state departments (including DOR) cannot exceed the total amount of their fiscal year 2001 highway appropriations. This cap limits the highway funds that will be available for the implementation of this legislation.

If highway funds are not available, then another source of funding must be identified to pay for the cost of implementing this legislation.

This proposal could increase state revenue through special plate fees.

FISCAL IMPACT - Small Business

No direct fiscal impact to small businesses would be expected as a result of this proposal.

DESCRIPTION

This proposal could allow biennial registration of Driveaway and Disabled Placards.

This proposal could also allow additional vehicles to obtain special plates.

This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not require additional capital improvements or rental space.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Department of Revenue

Department of Transportation

Mickey Wilson, CPA

Director

May 27, 2003