(1) A nonprofit group, institution of higher education or public body, as defined in ORS § 174.109, that requests issuance of a special registration plate under ORS § 805.222 shall:

(a) Submit an application, in the manner prescribed by the Department of Transportation by rule.

(b) Pay to the department the anticipated costs of adding the plate to the special registration plate program, as determined by the department. The department shall refund any amount of the payment that is not needed to pay the costs of adding the plate to the program.

(c) Collect and hold prepaid vouchers for new special registration plates, until it has received at least 3,000 vouchers along with required fees. Once a participating nonprofit group, institution of higher education or public body has received at least 3,000 vouchers, it shall submit the vouchers, along with the required fees, to the department.

(2) The department shall begin designing, producing and issuing the plates after the nonprofit group, institution of higher education or public body submits the following:

(a) The application;

(b) Payment for the anticipated costs of adding the plate as determined under subsection (1) of this section; and

(c) Three thousand prepaid vouchers along with required fees.

(3) For purposes of this section, costs of adding a new special registration plate include, but are not limited to, computer programming costs and vendor set-up fees.

(4) The department shall adopt rules for the administration and implementation of the special registration plate program. [2015 c.806 § 13]