An Act To
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1313
Committee Amendment CA_A_S192 (Senate)
Amends: 29-A MRSA §456-A, 29-A MRSA §460-A, 29-A MRSA §468, 29-A MRSA §513, 29-A MRSA §515-B

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to S.P. 410, L.D. 1313, BilL '"An Act To 
Amend the Motor Vehicle Laws" 
Amend the bill by inserting after the title and before the enacting clause the 
following: 
'Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and 
Whereas, it is important to provide immediate relief to small business owners and 
automobile dealers in light of economic conditions through a moratorium on dealer plate 
reductions and dealer license denials for failure to sell the required number of motor 
vehicles as provided in statute; and 
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore,' 
Amend the bill in section I in subsection 1 in the 7th line (page 1, line 10 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "Wildlife; the" and inserting the following: 'Wildlife~ or the' 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 3 (page 2, lines 12 to 27 in L.D.) and 
inserting the following: 
'Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §456-A, sub-§8, as amended by PL 2007, c. 383, §3, is 
repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
8. Eligibility; trucks. A lobster registration plate may be issued for: 
A. A vehicle that qualifies for a specialty license plate under section 468. subsection 
8; and 
B. A truck registered under section 504. subsection 1. 
Sec. 4. 29-A MRSA §460-A is enacted to read: 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 410, L.D. 1313 
§460-A. Honorary consul 
1. Honorary consul registration plates authorized. The Secretary of State, on 
payment of taxes required in Title 36, section 1482, fees required in section 501, 
subsection 1 and an additional fee equal to the cost of producing the plates, rounded to 
the nearest dollar, and upon application shall issue one pair of specially designed number 
plates for one designated motor vehicle owned or controlled by each honorary consul 
who is a citizen or resident of the United States and authorized by the United States to 
perform consular duties. The cost of producing the special plates is determined by the 
bureau. A specially designed plate and its registration certificate may be used in place of 
the regular plate and registration. 
2. Period of validity. Honorary consul plates issued pursuant to subsection 1 are 
valid only while the owner of the plates is authorized to perform consular duties. 
3. Desi2n. The Secretary of State shall determine the color, shape, size, lettering and 
numbering of the honorary consul registration plates issued pursuant to subsection 1, 
which must bear the words "Honorary Consul. II 
Sec. 5. 29-A MRSA §468, sub-§10, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 383, §5, IS 
amended to read: 
10. Additional versions or classes of the specialty plate. All requiremeRts set forth 
iR this section must be followed for each additioRal class or version of The Secretary of 
State may issue a specialty plate~ in a motorcycle or commercial vehicle class if: 
A. At least 10,000 sets of the specialty plate have been issued for automobiles and 
pickup trucks; 
B. The sponsor of the specialty plate under this subsection provides a list of 500 
names, dated signatures and current plate numbers of supporters who have signed a 
statement declaring they intend to purchase and display the motorcycle or 
commercial vehicle class of specialty license plate; and 
C. 
The sponsor collects from each supporter who signs the statement under 
paragraph B a contribution of $25 for each set of plates and provides to the Secretary 
of State the sum of these contributions in the amount of $12.500, which is 
nonrefundable. 
Upon receipt of the $12,500 provided under paragraph C, the Secretary of State shall 
prepare enabling legislation and a proposed plate design for submission to the Legislature 
and shall deposit the $12,500 in the Specialty License Plate Fund established under 
section 469.' 
Amend the bill by striking out all of sections 7 to 10 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 7. 29-A MRSA §513, sub-§l-A, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 501, §1, is 
amended to read: 
1-A. Registration required. Special Except as provided in subsection 3, special 
mobile equipment used on public ways, including, but not limited to, equipment that is 
rented from a location in this State or outside this State, regardless of whether the main 
office or headquarters of the owner of the equipment is located in this State or outside this 
State, must be registered in this State in accordance with this chapter. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "toS.P.410,L.D.1313 
Sec. 8. 29-A MRSA §513, sub-§3 is enacted to read: 
3. Exemption from registration. Special mobile equipment that is used exclusively 
on the closed portion of a public way for the limited purposes of constructing or repairing 
that public way and that is transported by another vehicle to and from the construction 
project is exempt from registration under this chapter. For purposes of this subsection, 
the special mobile equipment must be operated only within the boundaries of a closed 
way. Notwithstanding section 1601, the owner or operator of special mobile equipment 
that is exempt from registration pursuant to this subsection shall maintain the amounts of 
financial responsibility specified in section 1605. 
Sec. 9. 29-A MRSA §515-B, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 734, §1, is 
amended to read: 
4. Recognition plates. A Purple Heart recipient or the surviving spouse of a Purple 
Heart recipient who does not operate a motorcycle or register a motorcycle and who 
otherwise qualifies for the issuance of special Purple Heart motorcycle registration plates 
may apply to the Secretary of State· for a special single plate recognizing that award. The 
Secretary of State shall design and identify these special single plates for recognition 
purposes only. Special single plates may not be attached to a motorcycle. Only one plate 
may be issued to each recipient and a one time fee of $5 eharged.' 
Amend the bill in section 11 in subsection 3-A in the 3rd line (page 4, line 21 in L.D.) 
by striking out the following: "1482," and inserting the following: '1482, and' 
Amend the bill in section 11 in subsection 3-A in the 4th line (page 4, line 22 in L.D.) 
by striking out the following: "and a one-time additional fee of $5 per registration" and 
inserting the following: 'and a one time additional fee of $5' 
Amend the bill in section 12 in §524 in subsection 4 in the 6th blocked paragraph in 
the last line (page 7, line 3 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "and a one-time fee of 
$5 charged" and inserting the following: 'and a one time fee of$5 eharged' 
Amend the bill in section 20 by striking out all of paragraph A (page 8, lines 24 to 32 
in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'A. The only allowable routes of travel are from the United States-Canada border in 
Calais north on U.S. Route 1 to Access Road in Baileyville, east on Access Road to 
Domtar Woodland Mill or its successor on Main Street and north on Main Street to 
the Louisiana-Pacific Oriented Strand Board mill or its successor in Baileyville; from 
the United States-Canada border in Madawaska then directly north or south into the 
Fraser Papers facility or its successor in Madawaska or up Bridge Street to Mill Street 
in Madawaska in order to reverse direction; and from the United States-Canada 
border in Van Buren on Bridge Street, east into the rail yard in Van Buren, loeated 
iipflroximately 2/10 of one mile west to Main Street, also designated as Route 1, then 
north on Main Street approximately 1 112 miles from the border.' 
Amend the bill by inserting at the end before the summary the following: 
'Sec. 22. Moratorium on dealer plate reduction and dealer license denial. 
Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 29-A, section 903, from the effective 
date of this section to December 31,2012 the number of dealer plates lawfully possessed 
by a motor vehicle dealer may not be reduced and a motor vehicle dealer may not be 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" A" to S.P. 410, L.D. 1313 
denied renewal of that dealer's license solely because of a failure to meet minimum sales 
requirements under Title 29-A, section 903, subsection 3. 
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, that section of 
this Act that imposes a moratorium on dealer plate reduction and dealer license denial 
takes effect when approved.' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment: 
1. 
Clarifies that reports or records that contain intelligence and investigative 
information and that are prepared by, prepared at the direction of or kept in the custody of 
the criminal law enforcement unit of the Department of the Secretary of State, Bureau of 
Motor Vehicles, office of investigations are confidential; 
2. Deletes those sections of the bill that propose to consolidate special equipment 
registration with trailer registration; 
3. 
Revises the authorized route in Van Buren for United States-Canada border 
weight permits; 
4. Authorizes lobster registration plates for commercial motor vehicles; 
5. Creates a registration plate for a person serving as an honorary consul; 
6. Establishes a process for creating motorcycle and commercial vehicle specialty 
plates for existing specialty plates with at least 10,000 active registrations; 
7. Provides that special mobile equipment that is used exclusively on the closed 
portion of a public way for the limited purposes of constructing or repairing that public 
way and is transported by another vehicle to and from the construction project is exempt 
from registration; 
8. Eliminates the one-time $5 administrative fee for Purple Heart motor vehicle and 
motorcycle registration plates and veterans motorcycle registration plates; and 
9. Establishes a moratorium on dealer plate reduction and dealer license denials, adds 
an emergency preamble and emergency clause specifying that the moratorium takes 
effect immediately and provides that the moratorium be in place until December 31, 
2012. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Approved: 05123/11 
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LD 1313 
LR 2048(02) 
An Act To Amend the Motor Vehicle Laws 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment" A" S-112-
Committee: Transportation 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - Highway Fund 
Minor revenue decrease - Highway Fund 
Additional costs to the Department of Secretary of State associated with establishing an honorary consul p-Iate and 
increasing the weight limit for issuance of Medal of Honor, prisoner of war, Pearl Harbor survivor and Purple Heart 
medal recipient plates can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. Highway Fund revenue may decrease by 
minor amounts not requiring any change to the budget from eliminating the one-time administrative fee for Purple 
Heart motor vehicle and motorcycle registration plates and veterans motorcycle registration plates. 
LR2048(02) - Fiscal Note - Page I of 1