1. No motor carrier, except as provided in section 390.030, shall operate any motor vehicle unless such vehicle shall be accompanied by an annual or seventy-two-hour regulatory license issued by the state highways and transportation commission; provided that when a motor carrier uses a truck-tractor for pulling trailers or semitrailers, such motor carrier may elect to license either the truck-tractor, trailer or semitrailer. The fee for each such regulatory license shall be ten dollars per year and shall be due and payable as provided in this section. Such license shall be issued in such form and shall be used pursuant to such reasonable rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the commission.

2. Any regulatory license issued to a motor carrier for use in driveaway operations, as defined in this section, shall be issued to such motor carrier without reference to any particular vehicle and may be used interchangeably by the holder thereof on any motor vehicle or combinations thereof moving in driveaway operations under such carrier’s property carrier registration, certificate, or permit.

3. In case of emergency, temporary, unusual or a peak demand for transportation, additional vehicles as described in subsection 1 of this section may be operated upon issuance of a seventy-two-hour license for each vehicle so operated. The license fee for each such additional vehicle shall be the sum of five dollars for each seventy-two consecutive hours, or any portion thereof. Such licenses shall be issued, renewed, and staggered in such form and shall be used pursuant to such reasonable rules and regulations as the commission may prescribe. No such additional vehicle which has been licensed pursuant to this subsection shall be operated without being accompanied by such license.

4. The commission shall collect the applicable license fee prior to the issuance of such license or licenses provided for in this section, and shall receive the license fee or fees and immediately deposit the same to the credit of the state highways and transportation department fund except as otherwise provided in section 622.095, or when an agreement has been negotiated with another jurisdiction whereby prepayment is not required. In such cases, section 622.095, if applicable, or the terms of the agreement shall prevail.

5. Any person operating as a motor carrier who violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

6. The regulatory license fee provided in this section may be paid at any state weigh station.

7. The commission shall prescribe, for every regulatory license issued pursuant to this section, an effective date and an expiration date. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the commission may stagger the issuance of licenses pursuant to this section to begin at quarterly intervals during any calendar year. Not later than the expiration date of the current license, or as otherwise prescribed, each motor carrier shall pay the regulatory license fee for each vehicle that the carrier will operate during the next yearly period. The commission may issue partial or over one-year licenses during the transition from an annual license, to accommodate motor carriers in adding vehicles to their operations during the year, to coordinate the dates for a single carrier’s licensing of multiple licenses, or for such other reasons as approved by the commission.