A.(1) The commissioner may establish a system of public license tag agents to collect the registration license taxes authorized by this Chapter. The system shall consist of municipal and parish governing authorities or new motor vehicle dealers or their agents licensed pursuant to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 32:1254 and authorized auto title companies pursuant to the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 32:735 et seq. No persons, natural or juridical, except public license tag agents, auto title companies, financial institutions, licensed new or used car dealers, recreational product dealers, state departments, offices, or entities and those included in the system established pursuant to this Section shall collect registration license taxes authorized by this Chapter.

            (2)(a) The commissioner shall make and publish rules and regulations for the issuance of the registration licenses, for the collection of the registration license taxes, and for the implementation and governing of a system of public license tag agents.

            (b) The rules and regulations to be adopted by the commissioner shall not be drafted in such a manner as to require more than two thousand transactions in any twelve-month period by an auto title company in order for such auto title company to qualify as a public license tag agent.

            (3) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to require all public license tag agents other than municipal and parish governing authorities to furnish security for the faithful performance of their duties as follows:

            (a) Each public license tag agent other than a local governmental subdivision, including a municipal governing authority, a political subdivision, or a state agency, shall execute a good and sufficient surety bond with a surety company qualified to do business in Louisiana as surety, in a sum of one hundred thousand dollars should the public tag agent have only one office in this state and in a sum of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars should the public tag agent have more than one office in this state, if surety bond is available for purchase, which bond shall name the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles as obligee and shall be subject to the condition that, if such public license tag agent shall, throughout the entire term of the bond, timely file with the office of motor vehicles all applications delivered to such public tag agent for filing, and all fees and taxes collected by such public license tag agent, the obligation shall be void. If the company does not do so, the obligation of the surety shall remain in full force and effect.

            (b) The surety bond furnished pursuant to this Paragraph shall be delivered to and filed with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles.

            (c) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to adopt and levy fines for violations of this Section and La. Rev. Stat. 47:532.2, any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this Section and La. Rev. Stat. 47:532.2, or of any violation of a contract between the department and the public license tag agent. The administrative fine for each violation of this Section and La. Rev. Stat. 47:532.2, any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this Section and La. Rev. Stat. 47:532.2, or of any violation of a contract between the department and the public license tag agent shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars.

            (4) The commissioner and public license tag agents other than municipal and parish governing authorities may enter into contracts which shall state the required procedures for the implementation of this Section. Such contracts may terminate upon violation of the foregoing provisions.

            (5) A biennial fee may be collected from a person seeking to contract with the Department of Public Safety and Correction, office of motor vehicles, prior to a person commencing to act as a public license tag agent, provided that such fee does not exceed two hundred dollars.

            (6)(a) No elected state official or employee of the state shall be allowed to become a public license tag agent.

            (b) The office of motor vehicles may deny a contract to any person, natural or juridical, seeking to be a public tag agent if that person has been found to be in violation of any rule or regulation promulgated by the office of motor vehicles pertaining to the issuance of a motor vehicle title, registration, or driver’s license within the two-year period prior to the date of application.

            (7)(a) Public license tag agents may collect the registration license taxes authorized by this Chapter, as well as applicable sales and use taxes, and issue registration certificates and license plates to vehicles and motor vehicles.

            (b) Public license tag agents shall also be authorized to receive and process applications filed for certificates of title, duplicate certificates of title, corrected certificates of title, recordation of liens, mortgages, or security interests against motor vehicles, conversion of plate, transfer of plate, replacement of lost or stolen plates, replacement of lost or stolen stickers, renewals of registration, duplicate registration; to contract with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, for the administration of an electronic media system which will permit the voluntary recording of vehicle title information and security interest notification; and to contract with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, to administer knowledge and skills tests to applicants for the issuance of Class “D” or “E” drivers’ licenses, to administer knowledge and skills tests to applicants for the issuance of the “M” endorsement on such drivers’ licenses to operate motorcycles, motor driven cycles, and motorized bicycles, and to issue drivers’ licenses as provided by law.

            (c) Public license tag agents shall also be authorized to provide information on the status of registration privileges and to process reinstatements of driving and motor vehicle registration privileges when these privileges were revoked due to the failure to maintain the compulsory motor vehicle liability security or the failure to provide proof of such security. Public license tag agents shall be authorized to collect a convenience charge not to exceed twenty-three dollars, to provide information on the status of registration privileges and a charge not to exceed twenty-three dollars per reinstatement, provided that the charges are disclosed immediately to the consumer prior to the initiation of the transaction and are posted in a conspicuous manner in the business office of the public license tag agent.

            (d) The commissioner may authorize public license tag agents to process additional applications or transactions.

            (e) License plates shall be made available to each public license tag agent in increments of no less than ten. Public license tag agents shall advance the costs of production for the license plates prior to the receipt of the license plates. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, shall fully reimburse the public license tag agent for the cost of the production of the plate when the plate is issued pursuant to any registration transaction performed by the public license tag agent. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, shall determine the method by which the public license tag agent receives the reimbursement.

            (f) Public license tag agents shall submit images of documents required to be retained by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, in connection with transactions or activities listed in this Paragraph or authorized by the commissioner pursuant to Subparagraph (d) of this Paragraph in the official document image repository of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, shall determine the manner in which public license tag agents shall be required to submit these images.

            (g) Notwithstanding any requirements of La. Rev. Stat. 47:505(B) to the contrary, all public license tag agents shall submit electronic notification to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, of the removal and destruction of license plates when such submission is undertaken on behalf of a dealer licensed pursuant to Chapter 4-C or Chapter 6 of Title 32 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, shall determine the manner in which the public license tag agent shall be required to electronically submit this information.

            B. The system of public license tag agents shall be in addition to the offices of the commissioner delegated to collect the registration license taxes.

            C. Public license tag agents shall be authorized to collect a convenience charge in addition to the registration license tax or other authorized fees, sales taxes, and transactions. The convenience charge shall not exceed twenty-three dollars per authorized transaction. However, the public license tag agents shall collect and retain the full amount of the convenience charge. The seller is authorized to collect the convenience charge authorized by this Subsection in connection with any retail sale, in addition to the fees authorized in Chapter 10-B of Title 6 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.

            D.(1) Each public license tag agent approved by the office of motor vehicles shall disclose information to the consumer that a license tag may be purchased at the office of motor vehicles without payment of the convenience charge.

            (2) Itemization of this convenience charge in compliance with federal laws regarding truth and lending shall be considered compliance with this Section.

            E. The contract between the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles and a person who contracts to perform services pursuant to this Section shall be for a term of two years and may be automatically renewed by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles.

            Added by Acts 1977, No. 405, §1; Acts 1989, No. 152, §1; Acts 1993, No. 469, §1; Acts 1993, No. 737, §2; Acts 1995, No. 150, §1; Acts 1997, No. 952, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1026, §1; Acts 1999, No. 458, §2; Acts 1999, No. 586, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1276, §2; Acts 2001, No. 590, §1; Acts 2006, No. 409, §2; Acts 2008, No. 290, §1; Acts 2014, No. 448, §1; Acts 2015, No. 110, §2, eff. July 1, 2015; Acts 2016, No. 556, §1, eff. June 17, 2016; Acts 2021, No. 69, §3; Acts 2023, No. 357, §2.

            NOTE: See Acts 2015, No. 110, §3, re: applicability of La. Rev. Stat. 47:532.1(A)(3)(a).