SECOND REGULAR SESSION
[P E R F E C T E D]
SENATE BILL NO. 1048
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS NODLER, CHILDERS, LOUDON, CLEMENS, MATHEWSON, YECKEL,
GRIESHEIMER, SCOTT, CHAMPION, SHIELDS AND KINDER.
Read 1st time January 13, 2004, and ordered printed.
Read 2nd time January 26, 2004, and referred to the Committee on Financial and Governmental Organization, Veterans' Affairs and Elections.
Reported from the Committee February 23, 2004, with recommendation that the bill do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar.
Taken up March 9, 2004. Read 3rd time and placed upon its final passage; bill passed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
3543S.01P
AN ACT
To repeal sections 137.101 and 301.025, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the motor vehicle registration process for certain organizations.
Section A. Sections 137.101 and 301.025, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 137.101 and 301.025, to read as follows:
137.101. 1. The activities of nationally affiliated fraternal, benevolent, veteran, or service organizations which promote good citizenship, humanitarian activities, or improve the physical, mental, and moral condition of an indefinite number of people [are] or purposes purely charitable within the meaning of subsection 1 of section 6 of article X of the constitution and local assessing authorities may exempt such portion of the real and personal property of such organizations as the assessing authority may determine is utilized in purposes purely charitable from the assessment, levy, and collection of taxes.
2. If, at any time, an assessor finally determines, after any and all hearings or rightful appeals, that personal property, upon which an organization would otherwise owe taxes but for the provisions of subsection 1 of this section or subdivision (5) of section 137.100, is not used for purposes purely charitable, or for purposes described in subdivision (5) of section 137.100, then the assessor shall notify the department of revenue of such final determination within thirty days.
301.025. 1. No state registration license to operate any motor vehicle in this state shall be issued unless the application for license of a motor vehicle or trailer is accompanied by a tax receipt for the tax year which immediately precedes the year in which the vehicle's or trailer's registration is due and which reflects that all taxes, including delinquent taxes from prior years, have been paid, or a statement certified by the county or township collector of the county or township in which the applicant's property was assessed showing that the state and county tangible personal property taxes for such previous tax year and all delinquent taxes due have been paid by the applicant or that no such taxes were due or, if the applicant is not a resident of this state and serving in the armed forces of the United States, the application is accompanied by a leave and earnings statement from such person verifying such status or, if the applicant is an organization described pursuant to subdivision (5) of section 137.100, RSMo, or subsection 1 of section 137.101, RSMo, the application is accompanied by a document, in a form approved by the director, verifying that the organization is registered with the department of revenue or is determined by the internal revenue service to be a tax-exempt entity. If the director of the department of revenue has been notified by the assessor pursuant to subsection 2 of section 137.101, RSMo, that the applicant's personal property is not tax-exempt, then the organization's application shall be accompanied by a statement certified by the county or township collector of the county or township in which the organization's property was assessed showing that the state and county tangible personal property taxes for such previous tax year and all delinquent taxes due have been paid by the organization. In the event the registration is a renewal of a registration made two or three years previously, the application shall be accompanied by proof that taxes were not due or have been paid for the two or three years which immediately precede the year in which the motor vehicle's or trailer's registration is due. The county or township collector shall not be required to issue a receipt for the immediately preceding tax year until all personal property taxes, including all delinquent taxes currently due, are paid. If the applicant was a resident of another county of this state in the applicable preceding years, he or she must submit to the collector in the county or township of residence proof that the personal property tax was paid in the applicable tax years. Every county and township collector shall give each person a tax receipt or a certified statement of tangible personal property taxes paid. The receipt issued by the county collector in any county of the first classification with a charter form of government which contains part of a city with a population of at least three hundred fifty thousand inhabitants which is located in more than one county, any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of at least one hundred fifty thousand inhabitants which contains part of a city with a population of at least three hundred fifty thousand inhabitants which is located in more than one county and any county of the first classification without a charter form of government with a population of at least one hundred ten thousand but less than one hundred fifty thousand inhabitants shall be determined null and void if the person paying tangible personal property taxes issues or passes a check or other similar sight order which is returned to the collector because the account upon which the check or order was drawn was closed or did not have sufficient funds at the time of presentation for payment by the collector to meet the face amount of the check or order. The collector may assess and collect in addition to any other penalty or interest that may be owed, a penalty of ten dollars or five percent of the total amount of the returned check or order whichever amount is greater to be deposited in the county general revenue fund, but in no event shall such penalty imposed exceed one hundred dollars. The collector may refuse to accept any check or other similar sight order in payment of any tax currently owed plus penalty or interest from a person who previously attempted to pay such amount with a check or order that was returned to the collector unless the remittance is in the form of a cashier's check, certified check or money order. If a person does not comply with the provisions of this section, a tax receipt issued pursuant to this section is null and void and no state registration license shall be issued or renewed. Where no such taxes are due each such collector shall, upon request, certify such fact and transmit such statement to the person making the request. Each receipt or statement shall describe by type the total number of motor vehicles on which personal property taxes were paid, and no renewal of any state registration license shall be issued to any person for a number greater than that shown on his or her tax receipt or statement except for a vehicle which was purchased without another vehicle being traded therefor, or for a vehicle previously registered in another state, provided the application for title or other evidence shows that the date the vehicle was purchased or was first registered in this state was such that no personal property tax was owed on such vehicle as of the date of the last tax receipt or certified statement prior to the renewal. The director of revenue shall make necessary rules and regulations for the enforcement of this section, and shall design all necessary forms. If electronic data is not available, residents of counties with a township form of government and with township collectors shall present personal property tax receipts which have been paid for the preceding two years when registering under this section.
2. Every county collector in counties with a population of over six hundred thousand and less than nine hundred thousand shall give priority to issuing tax receipts or certified statements pursuant to this section for any person whose motor vehicle registration expires in January. Such collector shall send tax receipts or certified statements for personal property taxes for the previous year within three days to any person who pays the person's personal property tax in person, and within twenty working days, if the payment is made by mail. Any person wishing to have priority pursuant to this subsection shall notify the collector at the time of payment of the property taxes that a motor vehicle registration expires in January. Any person purchasing a new vehicle in December and licensing such vehicle in January of the following year, may use the personal property tax receipt of the prior year as proof of payment.
3. In addition to all other requirements, the director of revenue shall not register any vehicle subject to the heavy vehicle use tax imposed by Section 4481 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 unless the applicant presents proof of payment, or that such tax is not owing, in such form as may be prescribed by the United States Secretary of the Treasury. No proof of payment of such tax shall be required by the director until the form for proof of payment has been prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.
4. Beginning July 1, 2000, a county or township collector may notify, by ordinary mail, any owner of a motor vehicle for which personal property taxes have not been paid that if full payment is not received within thirty days the collector may notify the director of revenue to suspend the motor vehicle registration for such vehicle. Any notification returned to the collector by the post office shall not result in the notification to the director of revenue for suspension of a motor vehicle registration. Thereafter, if the owner fails to timely pay such taxes the collector may notify the director of revenue of such failure. Such notification shall be on forms designed and provided by the department of revenue and shall list the motor vehicle owner's full name, including middle initial, the owner's address, and the year, make, model and vehicle identification number of such motor vehicle. Upon receipt of this notification the director of revenue may provide notice of suspension of motor vehicle registration to the owner at the owner's last address shown on the records of the department of revenue. Any suspension imposed may remain in effect until the department of revenue receives notification from a county or township collector that the personal property taxes have been paid in full. Upon the owner furnishing proof of payment of such taxes and paying a twenty dollar reinstatement fee to the director of revenue the motor vehicle or vehicles registration shall be reinstated. In the event a motor vehicle registration is suspended for nonpayment of personal property tax the owner so aggrieved may appeal to the circuit court of the county of his or her residence for review of such suspension at any time within thirty days after notice of motor vehicle registration suspension. Upon such appeal the cause shall be heard de novo in the manner provided by chapter 536, RSMo, for the review of administrative decisions. The circuit court may order the director to reinstate such registration, sustain the suspension of registration by the director or set aside or modify such suspension. Appeals from the judgment of the circuit court may be taken as in civil cases. The prosecuting attorney of the county where such appeal is taken shall appear in behalf of the director, and prosecute or defend, as the case may require.
5. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2000, shall be invalid and void.