NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used for other purposes.

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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Ponce		DATE TYPED:	3/15/03		HB	379/aHRTC/aHAFC
SHORT TITLE:		Special Plates for Mail Carriers				SB
					ANALYST:		Wilson

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
			$0.1 Minimal	Recurring	OSF

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue		Subsequent Years Impact	Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04
	$0.1		Recurring	OSF
	$0.1		Recurring	County
	$0.1		Recurring	Municipal

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Conflicts with SB 211

Companion to SB 378

Relates to various specialty license plates proposed by the House and Senate.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

State Highway and Transportation Department (SHTD)

No Response

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HAFC Amendment

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee amendment makes a technical revision. There are no substantive changes.

Synopsis of HTC Amendment

The House Transportation Committee amendment creates standardized special registration plates with logos to show state support for worthy public purposes. The amendment states the authorizing statute shall provide for collection of fees that, at a minimum, will cover the costs to the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) of development, manufacture and issuance of the special registration plates and logos.

Standardized special registration plates, on the standardized areas, shall:

• Display the colors of the state flag, red lettering on a yellow background and the phrases "New Mexico USA" and "Land of Enchantment";

• Provide a space for applying the special registration logo, centered at the left edge of the plate, between the attachment holes, beginning one-fourth inch in from the edge of the plate and having the following dimensions: four and one-eighth inches in height and three and one-eighth inches in width;

• Provide a vehicle registration number, to be assigned by the MVD consisting of five alphanumeric characters displayed to the right of the special logo area.

The HTC amendment states MVD will design the balance of the plate in consultation with the public purpose interest group requesting the special registration plate. This group shall provide evidence acceptable to MVD that it will generate a minimum number of prepaid applications as determined by the MVD for the special registration plate with logo and give a prepayment to the MVD in an amount sufficient to cover the plate and logo cost of the initial order. Furthermore,

the interest group shall provide a sample of the requested artwork design in a format specified by the plate manufacturer for the specialized logo.

The standardized provisions of the amendment are effective July 1, 2003. The balance of the bill is effective on January 1, 2004.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 379 requires the Taxation and Revenue Department to issue special registration license plates to any person who is an actively employed mail carrier with the United States postal service upon the submission of proof that the individual requesting the plate is in fact an actively employed mail carrier.

The TRD Secretary shall determine what constitutes satisfactory proof. In addition, the TRD Secretary shall approve the final plate design for the special registration plates that must be clearly marked as “letter carrier”.

When the letter carrier holding a special plate ceases to be employed as a letter carrier, the individual must return his plate the TRD Secretary.

Significant Issues

The Legislature may wish to grant actively employed postal workers the privilege of having a special license plate.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

TRD is authorized to charge a fee of $25.00 in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee for the special registration plate for actively employed postal workers. The fees shall be retained by TRD and are appropriated to TRD to defray the cost of making and issuing special registration plates.

The Motor Vehicle Division is appropriated $10.00 of the fee collected to defray the cost of making and issuing special registration plates for actively employed letter carriers. The remaining $15.00 shall be deposited in the motor vehicle suspense fund for distribution to the state road fund, the county general funds, the county road funds, the municipal road uses and municipal general funds in accordance with current distribution laws.

SHTD could not quantify the demand for special plates for mail carriers, but it provided the following: the NM Department of Labor, Bureau of Economic Research and Analysis estimates the number of mail carriers as of the year 2000 to be 1,310. As of January 31, 2003, the Albuquerque Postmaster’s office states there are 1,079 employed mail carriers. Since many mail carriers probably drive Post Office vehicles, it is difficult to project the level of demand for the special plate, but presumably far fewer than 1,000 plates would be sold for a fee of $25.00 each during the first year or so. The recurring impact in subsequent years would be considerably less.

It is unclear whether demand would outweigh the costs of manufacturing the special license plates for the mail carriers.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

TRD will require some staff resources to design and issue the license plates.

CONFLICT/ COMPANIONSHIP

HB 379 conflicts with SB 211 that also proposes mail carrier plates, but with different fees for issuance.

HB 379 is a companion bill to SB 378 that proposes mail carrier plates to retired postal workers.

HB 75, Armed Forces Retirees Special License

HB 201, Special Plates for Retired Firefighters (duplicate of SB 496)

HB 379, Special Plates for Letter Carriers

HB 520, Special Plates for National Guard Members

HB 566, Special Plates for Supporting Spayed Pets

HB 602, Special Plates for Retired NM National Guard (duplicate of SB 622)

HB 635, Special Plates for NM Fraternal Order of Police

HB 656, Special Plates for Wildlife Artwork

HB 704, License Plates for Civil Air Patrol, New Mexico Wing

HB 760, Special Commemorative Route 66 License Plate (duplicate of SB 770)

SB 197, License Plate for Active Duty Servicemen

SB 210, License Plates for Retired State Police

DW/sb:yr:njw :yr