(1) It shall be the duty of the cabinet to carry out the provisions of KRS § 186.005 to
186.260, and:

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 186.240

  • Commercial vehicles: means all motor vehicles that are required to be registered under the terms of KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 186.010
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, except electric low-speed scooters, devices moved by human and animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, or which derives its power from overhead wires. See Kentucky Statutes 186.010
  • Year: means calendar year. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(a) Provide to the clerk in each county access to all forms provided for in KRS
186.005 to 186.260;
(b) Keep a numerical record of all registration numbers issued in the state and also keep a record of motor or vehicle identification numbers required by KRS § 186.160;
(c) Furnish to each clerk, originally each year upon estimate, and thereafter upon requisition at all times, a sufficient supply of standard, noncommercial plates and the supplies necessary to provide evidence of registration for all classes of vehicles required to be registered; and
(d) Prescribe a standard plate of practical form and size for police identification purposes that shall contain:
1. The registration identifier;
2. An indication that Kentucky is the issuing jurisdiction;
3. At the discretion of the cabinet, any combination of the following phrases:
a. “Bluegrass State”; or
b. “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”;
4. For standard plates for noncommercial vehicles:
a. The county in which the plate is issued; and
b. At the discretion of the person to whom the vehicle is registered, the phrase “In God We Trust”; and
5. For plates for commercial vehicles, the year the license expires and words or information the Department of Vehicle Regulation may prescribe by administrative regulation, pursuant to KRS Chapter 13A.
(2) Except as provided in KRS § 186A.127, license plates issued pursuant to this chapter shall conform to the provisions of subsection (1)(c) and (d) of this section. The Transportation Cabinet shall provide for the issuance of reflectorized plates for all motor vehicles, and shall collect a fee, in addition to the fee set out in KRS Chapter
186 and KRS § 281.631, of fifty cents ($0.50). The fifty cents ($0.50) fee to reflectorize license plates shall be used by the cabinet as provided in subsection (3) of this section.
(3) The reflectorized license plate program fund is established in the state road fund and appropriated on a continual basis to the cabinet to administer the moneys as provided in this subsection. The fifty cents ($0.50) fee collected by the cabinet to reflectorize license plates shall be deposited into the program fund and used to issue reflectorized license plates. If at the end of a fiscal year, money remains in the program fund, it shall be retained in the fund and shall not revert to the state road fund. The interest and income earned on money in the program fund shall also be retained in the program fund to carry out the provisions of this subsection. The
Transportation Cabinet shall issue reflectorized license plates under the provisions of this subsection on a schedule to be determined at the discretion of the cabinet.
(4) Except as directed under subsection (3) of this section, the Transportation Cabinet shall receive all moneys forwarded by the clerk in each county and turn it over to the State Treasurer for the benefit of the state road fund.
(5) The Transportation Cabinet shall require an accounting by the clerk in each county for any moneys received by him or her under the provisions of this chapter, after the deduction of his or her fees under this chapter, and for all receipts, forms, plates, and insignia consigned to him or her. The Auditor of Public Accounts, pursuant to KRS § 43.071, shall annually audit each county clerk concerning his or her responsibilities for the collection of various fees and taxes associated with motor vehicles. The secretary of the Transportation Cabinet, with the advice, consultation, and approval of the Auditor, shall develop and implement an inventory and accounting system which shall insure that the audits mandated in KRS § 43.071 are performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. The Transportation Cabinet shall pay for the audits mandated by KRS § 43.071.
(6) When applied for under KRS § 186.060 or 186.061, motor or vehicle numbers assigned shall be distinctive to show that they were designated by the cabinet.
Effective: January 1, 2024
History: Amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 129, sec. 3, effective January 1, 2024. — Amended 2022 Ky. Acts ch. 18, sec. 15, effective January 1, 2024. — Amended 2021
Ky. Acts ch. 53, sec. 2, effective June 29, 2021. — Amended 2015 Ky. Acts ch. 19, sec. 40, effective June 24, 2015. — Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 50, sec. 1, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 180, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 221, sec. 1, effective July 14, 1992. — Amended 1990
Ky. Acts ch. 296, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990; and ch. 498, sec. 5, effective July
13, 1990. — Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 86, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1986; and ch.
429, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1986. — Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 229, sec. 1, effective January 1, 1983. — Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 133, sec. 14; and ch. 366, sec. 2, effective June 19, 1976. — Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 74, Art. IV, sec.
20(2), (9). — Amended 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 139, sec. 13, effective January 1, 1967. — Amended 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 62, sec. 16, effective January 1, 1963. — Amended 1954
Ky. Acts ch. 153, sec. 7. — Amended 1950 Ky. Acts ch. 190, sec. 6, effective June
15, 1950. — Amended 1948 Ky. Acts ch. 126, sec. 4. — Amended 1946 Ky. Acts ch.
208, sec. 5. — Amended 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 78, secs. 6 and 11. — Recodified 1942
Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 2739g-63.