1. Only a community college or four-year public or private institution of higher education, or a foundation or organization representing the college or institution, located in the state of Missouri may itself authorize or may by the director of revenue be authorized to use the school’s official emblem to be affixed on multiyear personalized license plates as provided in this section.

2. Any contribution to such institution derived from this section, except reasonable administrative costs, shall be used for scholarship endowment or other academically related purposes. Any vehicle owner may annually apply to the institution for the use of the emblem. Upon annual application and payment of an emblem-use contribution to the institution, which shall be set by the governing body of the institution at an amount of at least twenty-five dollars, the institution shall issue to the vehicle owner, without further charge, an “emblem-use authorization statement”, which shall be presented by the vehicle owner to the department of revenue at the time of registration. Upon presentation of the annual statement and payment of the fee required for personalized license plates in section 301.144, and other fees and documents which may be required by law, the department of revenue shall issue a personalized license plate, which shall bear the seal, emblem or logo of the institution, to the vehicle owner.

3. The license plate authorized by this section shall use the school colors of the institution, and those colors shall be constructed upon the license plate using a process to ensure that the school emblem shall be displayed upon the license plate in the clearest and most attractive manner possible. Such license plates shall be made with fully reflective material with a common color scheme and design, shall be clearly visible at night, and shall be aesthetically attractive, as prescribed by section 301.130. The license plate authorized by this section shall be issued with a design approved by both the institution of higher education and the advisory committee established in section 301.129^*.

4. A vehicle owner, who was previously issued a plate with an institutional emblem authorized by this section and does not provide an emblem-use authorization statement at a subsequent time of registration, shall be issued a new plate which does not bear the institutional emblem, as otherwise provided by law.

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of this section or subsection 1 of section 301.3150, any community college or four-year public or private institution of higher education, or any foundation or organization representing the college or institution, located outside of the state of Missouri, which has authorized the use of its official emblem to be affixed on multiyear personalized license plates and has had its application for a specialty license plate approved by the joint committee on transportation oversight under section 301.3150 prior to August 28, 2012, may continue to authorize the use of its official emblem on such plates. Nothing in subsection 1 of this section shall be construed to prohibit the manufacture or renewal of multiyear personalized license plates bearing out-of-state university, college, or institution of private learning official emblems if such license plates were approved by the joint committee on transportation oversight under section 301.3150 prior to August 28, 2012.

6. The director of revenue shall make necessary rules and regulations for the enforcement of this section, and shall design all necessary forms including establishing a minimum number of license plates which can be issued with the authorized emblem of a participating institution.