2017 -- S 0542

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LC001762

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- REGISTRATION FEES--DISABLED

VETERANS

     Introduced By: Senators Felag, Gallo, Ciccone, Seveney, and Lynch Prata

     Date Introduced: March 09, 2017

     Referred To: Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs

     (Office of Veterans Affairs)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 31-6-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 31-6 entitled "Registration

Fees" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     31-6-8. Disabled veterans.

     (a) Any veteran who has been honorably discharged from the service of the armed forces

or the merchant marine of the United States in any of the wars or campaigns in which the United

States has been engaged and who, while engaged in these wars or campaigns or as a result of

engagement in these wars or campaigns, by reason of amputation, has lost one or both of his or

her arms, hands, feet, or legs, or who, by reason of other permanent injury, has lost the use of one

or both of his or her arms, hands, feet, or legs, or to whom has been granted a motor vehicle under

chapter 870-2D, United States Public Laws 663, enacted 1946, 79th Congress, or has been

determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs Veterans' Administration to:

     (1) Have have a combined service connected disability rating of one hundred percent

(100%); or

     (2) Be considered "individually unemployable" due to their service-connected disability,

shall be forever exempt from the payment of any fee for the annual registration of and a license to

operate that motor vehicle.

     (b) The administrator for the division of motor vehicles shall issue to an eligible veteran

for use on an automobile, or on a commercial vehicle having a gross weight of six thousand three

hundred pounds (6,300 lbs.) or less, registration plates designated "Disabled Veteran". Upon the

death of the holder of "Disabled Veteran" plates, the plates may be transferred to his or her

surviving spouse for his or her lifetime or until he or she remarries. Only one set of "Disabled

Veteran" plates shall be issued to an eligible veteran and only after certification of eligibility from

the Veterans' Administration or other satisfactory documentation of eligibility is presented.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- REGISTRATION FEES--DISABLED

VETERANS

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     This act would expand and would clarify what constitutes disability entitling disabled

veterans to the waiver of motor vehicle registration fees.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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