2023 California Code › Vehicle Code - VEH › DIVISION 3 - REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES AND CERTIFICATES OF TITLE › CHAPTER 1 - Original and Renewal of Registration; Issuance of Certificates of Title › ARTICLE 8 - Special Plates › Section 5004.3.

5004.3. (a) Subject to subdivision (d), the department shall establish the California Legacy License Plate Program and create and issue a series of specialized license plates known as California Legacy License Plates that replicate the look of California license plates from the state’s past. The design of the plates shall be identical, to the extent the department determines it to be reasonably feasible under current manufacturing processes, to a regular license plate, except as provided in subdivision (b).
(b) The California Legacy License Plates shall consist of one or more of the following designs:
(1) Yellow background with black lettering per the appearance of California license plates issued by the department from 1956 to 1962, inclusive.
(2) Black background with yellow lettering per the appearance of California license plates issued by the department from 1965 to 1968, inclusive.
(3) Blue background with yellow lettering per the appearance of California license plates issued by the department from 1969 to 1986, inclusive.
(c) An applicant for the specialized license plates described in subdivision (a), who shall be the owner or lessee of the vehicle on which the plates will be displayed, may choose to either accept a license plate character sequence assigned by the department or request a combination of letters or numbers or both, subject to Section 5105.
(d) In addition to the regular fees for an original registration or renewal of registration, the following additional fees shall be paid for the issuance, renewal, retention, or transfer of the specialized license plates:
(1) Fifty dollars ($50) for the original issuance of the plates.
(2) Forty dollars ($40) for a renewal of registration with the plates.
(3) Fifteen dollars ($15) for transfer of the plates to another vehicle.
(4) Thirty-five dollars ($35) for each substitute replacement plate.
(5) Thirty-eight dollars ($38), when the payment of renewal fees is not required as specified in Section 4000 and the holder of the specialized license plates retains the plates. The fee shall be due at the expiration of the registration year of the vehicle to which the specialized license plates were assigned. This paragraph shall not apply when a plate character sequence is assigned by the department pursuant to subdivision (c).
(e) Sections 5106 and 5108 do not apply to the specialized license plates issued pursuant to this section.
(f) The department shall not issue California Legacy License Plates for a vehicle that is exempt from the payment of registration fees pursuant to Section 9101 or 9103.
(g) (1) The department shall not establish the California Legacy License Plate Program until the department has received not less than 7,500 paid applications for plates. The department shall collect and hold applications for the plates. The department shall not issue a specialized license plate until it has received not less than 7,500 paid applications for any one of the particular plates within the time period prescribed in this section.
(2) The department shall have until January 1, 2015, to receive the required number of applications. If, after that date, 7,500 paid applications have not been received for any one of the three plates described in subdivision (b), the department shall immediately refund to all applicants all fees or deposits that have been collected.
(h) (1) Upon a determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the California Legacy License Plate Program.
(2) After deducting its administrative costs under this subdivision, the department shall deposit any additional revenue derived from the issuance, renewal, transfer, retention, and substitution of the specialized license plates into the California Environmental License Plate Fund, for appropriation by the Legislature pursuant to existing law. For purposes of this paragraph, “administrative costs” includes the costs of including the California Legacy License Plates in materials that promote special license plates authorized by this chapter.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 208, Sec. 8. (AB 2906) Effective January 1, 2017.)