Act No. 164 (S.251). Motor vehicles; snowmobiles
An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to laws pertaining to motor vehicles
This act:
(1) Prohibits the display or possession of fictitious or fraudulently altered inspection stickers and the misuse of inspection stickers.
(2) Expands the scope of electronic registration transactions for which a printed receipt serves as a temporary registration to include any registration transaction processed electronically.
(3) Authorizes the department of motor vehicles to retain overpayments by customers of up to $1.00.
(4) Provides that free permits are available for vehicles up to 75 feet in length traveling on portions of Route 4.
(5) Eliminates the requirement that applications for titles to vessels, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles be accompanied by an application for registration.
(6) Makes a technical correction in the definition of "motor vehicle" in the new motor vehicle arbitration act.
(7) Specifies that any dealer registered in Vermont is subject to disclosure requirements regarding vehicles returned under the new motor vehicle arbitration act (or under a similar act in another state), and is prohibited from reselling a motor vehicle determined or adjudicated as having a serious safety defect. An affirmative defense is provided for those manufacturers, agents, and dealers that purchase a motor vehicle without actual knowledge or notice from a vehicle's title that the vehicle was returned under Vermont's or another state's lemon law.
(8) Reorganizes and clarifies the law governing snowmobile registrations and trails maintenance assessment decals, and authorizes snowmobiles properly registered in another state or province to be operated in Vermont without a trails maintenance assessment decal on designated trails from the New Hampshire border to the village of Beecher Falls, Vermont.
(9) Specifies that when VAST serves as the agent of the commissioner of motor vehicles for the purpose of issuing temporary snowmobile registrations, VAST shall promptly remit any registration fees that it collects to the commissioner in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner.
(10) Reorganizes the section of law that specifies how snowmobile registration receipts are distributed, and specifies that the $5.00 per registration allocated to the agency of transportation shall be allocated to the transportation fund.
(11) Provides for administrative penalties if VAST or VAST's agent violates the laws or regulations of the state governing snowmobiles.
(12) Creates a new type of special license plate called a "next-of-kin" plate which may be issued to the parents, widows and widowers, and next of kin of members of the armed forces who lost their lives while serving on active duty or on active duty for training, while assigned in a reserve or national guard unit in drill status, or as a result of injury of illness incurred during such service or assignment.
Effective Date: July 1, 2012
Also see: Judiciary; Act No. 147 (S.244); An act relating to referral to court diversion for driving with a suspended license