GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

S	2 

SENATE BILL 758
Transportation Committee Substitute Adopted 4/26/89

Short Title:  Official License Plates.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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April 4, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CLARIFY THE DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN OFFICIAL LICENSE PLATES ISSUABLE UPON REQUEST TO THE JUDICIARY AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE, UPON REQUEST AND PAYMENT OF FEE, OF OFFICIAL LICENSE PLATES TO FULL-TIME PERMANENT LEGISLATIVE STAFF.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 20-81 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-81.  Official license plates.
(a)	Official license plates issued to officials shall be subject to the same fees and transfer provisions as provided in G.S. 20-87 and 20-64 respectively and shall be issued as follows:
(1)	Senate and Congressional. – Official license plates issued to the United States Senators shall bear the words ‘U.S. Senate', be numbered 1 and 2, and shall be issued on the basis of seniority.  The official plates issued to United States Congressmen shall bear the words ‘U.S. House' and be numbered 1 through 11 and shall be issued on the basis of congressional districts.
(2)	North Carolina General Assembly. –
a.	Official license plates issued to members of the North Carolina State Senate or House of Representatives shall bear the words ‘Senate' or ‘State House' followed by the Senator's or Representative's assigned seat number.
b.	Official license plates shall be issued to full-time permanent staff of the North Carolina State Senate upon request and shall bear the words ‘State Senate Staff' followed by a numerical designation beginning with 1.  The Senate Principal Clerk shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 1, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 2, and the Senate Reading Clerk shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 3.  The remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the full-time permanent staff of the Senate on the basis of seniority of service to the General Assembly.
c.	Official license plates shall be issued to full-time permanent staff of the North Carolina State House of Representatives upon request and shall bear the words ‘State House Staff' followed by a numerical designation beginning with 1.  The House Principal Clerk shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 1, the House Sergeant-at-Arms shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 2, and the House Reading Clerk shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 3.  The remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the full-time permanent staff of the House of Representatives on the basis of seniority of service to the General Assembly.
d.	Official license plates shall be issued upon request to full-time permanent staff of the North Carolina General Assembly employed by the Legislative Services Commission and shall bear the words ‘State Legislative Staff', which may be abbreviated ‘State Legis. Staff', followed by a numerical designation beginning with 1.  The Division Director having the greatest seniority of service to the General Assembly shall upon request be issued the plate bearing number 1, other Division Directors shall be issued upon request plates bearing succeeding numbers in order of seniority of service to the General Assembly, and the remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the full-time permanent staff of the General Assembly upon request on the basis of seniority of service to the General Assembly.
e.	For the purpose of this subdivision, seniority of service to the General Assembly shall be determined by the Legislative Services Officer as of January 1 of each year.
f.	A second or subsequent vehicle registered by a member or full-time permanent staff of the General Assembly shall upon request be issued a plate bearing the appropriate designation followed by a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter ‘A'.
(3)	Judicial. – Official plates issued to the judiciary shall be issued as follows:
a.	Appellate division. – Official plates that shall be issued upon request to the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the Chief Judge and Associate Judges of North Carolina Court of Appeals shall bear words ‘Supreme Court Justice' or ‘Court of Appeals Judge' followed by numerical designation from 1 through 19.  The Chief Justice upon request shall be issued the plate bearing number 1 and the remaining plates shall first be issued upon request to the Associate Justices on the basis of seniority.  The Chief Judge shall be issued upon request the next such judicial plate and the remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the Associate Judges on the basis of seniority.  Retired members of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals shall receive an official plate upon request similar in every respect to the plate issued to the regular justices and judges bearing the numerical designation of his or her position of seniority at the time of retirement except that the numerical designation shall be followed with the letter ‘X'.  Official plate J-20 may be issued upon request to the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
b.	Superior court. – Official plates shall be issued to the various senior resident superior court judges upon request and shall bear the letter ‘J' followed by a numerical designation which for a district as defined in G.S. 7A-41.1(a) shall be equal to the sum of the numerical designation of their respective judicial districts plus 20.  Where there is more than one regular resident superior court judge for such a district, official plates shall upon request be issued to other resident judges of the district similar to the official plate to be issued upon request to the senior resident superior court judge of the district except the numerical designation on each subsequent plate shall be followed by a hyphen and a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter ‘A', which shall be indicative of the recipient's position as to seniority.  The numerical designation for the senior resident superior court judge for a set of districts as defined in G.S. 7A-41.1(a) shall be equal to the sum of 20 plus the numerical designation which the districts in the set have in common and shall be followed by no letter, and the numerical designation for each other regular resident superior court judge of the set of districts shall have the same numerical designation as that of the senior resident superior court judge and shall be followed by a hyphen and a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter ‘A' which shall indicate the recipient's position as to seniority among all of the regular resident superior court judges of the set of districts and shall not necessarily correspond with the letter designation of the superior court district established under G.S. 7A-41 for which he is a resident judge, provided that in the set of districts 7B and 7C, the senior resident superior court judge for that set shall be issued on request an official plate bearing the designation 27BC following the letter ‘J', and all other resident superior court judges of the set shall be issued on request an official plate bearing that designation followed by a hyphen and a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter ‘A' indicating that judge's position as to seniority among all the regular resident superior court judges of that set.  Special judges and emergency judges of the superior court shall be issued an official plate bearing the letter ‘J' with a numerical designation as designated by the Administrative Office of the Courts with the approval of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.  Retired judges shall be issued a similar plate except that the numerical designation shall be followed by the letter ‘X'.
c.	North Carolina district court judges. – An official plate shall be issued upon request to each chief judge of the district courts of North Carolina which shall bear the letter ‘J' followed by a numerical designation equal to the sum of the numerical designation of their respective district court districts plus 100 and all other judges of the district courts serving within the same district court district shall, upon request, be issued an official plate bearing the same letter and numerical designation as appears on the official plate issued to the chief district judge of the district court district except that on each subsequent official plate issued within a district, the numerical designation shall be followed by a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter ‘A' which shall be indicative of the recipient's position as to seniority.  Retired judges shall be issued a similar plate except that the numerical designation shall be followed by the letter ‘X'.
c1.	Clerks of superior court. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to the various clerks of superior court which plate shall bear the words ‘Clerk Superior Court', followed by the numerical designation of their respective counties in alphabetical order, beginning with 100 and preceded by the letter ‘C'.
d.	District attorneys. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to the various district attorneys which plates shall bear the letters ‘DA', followed by a numerical designation indicative of their prosecutorial district.
e.	United States judges. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to Justices of the United States Supreme Court, Judges of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals and to the District Judges of the United States District Courts residing in North Carolina and shall bear the words ‘U.S. Judge', followed by a numerical designation beginning with the number ‘1' which shall be indicative of the judge's seniority position as to the date he began continuous service as a United States Judge as designated by the Secretary of State.  Retired judges and judges who have taken senior status shall be issued similar plates except that the numerical designation shall be based upon the date of such retirement or assumption of senior status and shall follow the numerical designation of active justices and judges.
f.	United States attorneys. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to the United States Attorneys, which plates shall bear the letters, ‘U.S. Attorney', followed by a numerical designation indicative of their district, with 1 being the Eastern District, 2 being the Middle District, and 3 being the Western District.
g.	United States marshals. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to the United States Marshals, which plates shall bear the letters, ‘U.S. Marshal', followed by a numerical designation indicative of their district, with 1 being the Eastern District, 2 being the Middle District, and 3 being the Western District.
(4) 	Elective and Appointive. – Official plates issued to elective and appointive members of State government shall bear number designations beginning with number 1 which shall  be assigned to the Governor of North Carolina and numbers following thereafter shall be issued to in the following order:
2.	Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina.
3.	Speaker of the House of Representatives.
4.	President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
5.	Secretary of State.
6.	State Auditor.
7.	State Treasurer.
8.	Superintendent of Public Instruction.
9.	Attorney General.
10.	Commissioner of Agriculture.
11.	Commissioner of Labor.
12.	Commissioner of Insurance.
13.	Speaker Pro Tempore of the House.
14.	Legislative Services Officer.
15.	Secretary of Administration.
16.	Secretary of Natural Resources and Community Development.
17.	Secretary of Revenue.
18.	Secretary of Human Resources.
19.	Secretary of Commerce.
20.	Secretary of the Department of Correction.
21.	Secretary of Cultural Resources.
22.	Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety.
23-29.	To be reserved for and assigned to members of the Governor's staff at the direction of the Governor.
30.	State Budget Officer.
31.	State Personnel Director.
32-41.	To be reserved for and assigned to nonlegislative members of the Advisory Budget Commission at the direction of the Governor.
42.	Chairman, State Board of Education.
43.	President, U.N.C. System.
44.	Chairman, A.B.C. Commission.
45.	Member, A.B.C. Commission.
46.	Member, A.B.C. Commission.
47.	Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture.
48.	Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture.
49.	Deputy Secretary of State.
50.	Deputy State Treasurer.
51.	Assistant State Treasurer.
52.	Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor.
53.	Chief Deputy, Department of Insurance.
54.	Assistant Commissioner of Insurance.
55-65.	Shall be reserved for and assigned to the Attorney General's deputies and assistants only.  Specific number assignments shall be at the direction of the Attorney General.
66-88.	Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to nonlegislative members of the Board of Economic Development.  Specific number assignments to such members shall be at the direction of the Governor.
89-96.	Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to nonlegislative members of the State Ports Authority.  Specific number assignments to such members shall be at the direction of the Governor.
97-104.	Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to members of the Utilities Commission.  Number 97 to be upon request assigned to the Chairman of the Utilities Commission with remaining numbers to be assigned upon request to the remaining members of the Utilities Commission on the basis of seniority.
105-109.	Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to  members of the Parole Commission.  Number 105 to be upon request assigned to the Chairman of the Parole Commission with remaining numbers to be assigned upon request to the remaining members of the Parole Commission on the basis of seniority.
110-200.	Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to  members of State boards and commissions and State employees at the direction of the Governor.
(5)	Department of Transportation. – Official plates shall be issued upon request to various members of the Divisions of the Department of Transportation which shall bear the letters ‘DOT' followed by a number designated from 1 through 85.  Specific number assignments to members of the Divisions of the Department of Transportation shall be at the direction of the Governor.
(6)	Consular and Diplomatic Officials. – Official plates shall  be issued upon request to an accredited consul, honorary consul, or diplomatic officer of a foreign government.  The plate shall bear the letters ‘Consul' followed by the international alphabetical designation for the country represented by the consul or diplomatic officer and followed by a numerical designation beginning with the number ‘1' and followed sequentially based on the number of applicants.  Every application for a registration plate under this subsection shall be accompanied by a certificate from the Secretary of State of the United States or his agent that the applicant is an accredited consul, honorary consul, or diplomatic officer.
(b)	License plates issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles of the Department of Transportation pursuant to this section shall be assessed a fee of ten dollars ($10.00), in addition to any fees charged under G.S. 20-87 and 20-88.  These plates will be subject to the same transfer provisions as provided in G.S. 20-64.
(c)	The revenue derived from the additional fee for such plates shall be placed in a separate fund designated the ‘Officials Registration Plate Fund'.  After deducting the cost of the plates, plus budgetary requirements for handling an issuance, to be determined by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, any remaining moneys derived from the additional fee for such plate shall be periodically transferred in accordance with G.S. 20-81.3(c)."
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.  With respect to official judicial license plates, this act shall apply to each affected person on the date of the first subsequent regular renewal of his existing appellate division plate, or upon the date of the subsequent regular issuance of his first appellate plate.  With respect to official legislative staff license plates, the Legislative Services Officer may determine seniority of service to the General Assembly immediately upon ratification of this act to the end that such plates may be issued for the balance of 1989.