(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles may issue Heritage Classic Foundation special license plates to owners of private passenger-carrying motor vehicles registered in their names. The fee for each special license plate is seventy-five dollars every two years in addition to the regular motor vehicle license fee set forth in Article 5. Each special license plate must be of the same size and general design of regular motor vehicle license plates. Each special license plate must be issued or revalidated for a biennial period which expires twenty-four months from the month the special license plate is issued.

(B) Of the fees collected pursuant to this section, the Comptroller General shall place into the State Highway Fund as established by § 57-11-20, to be distributed as provided in § 11-43-167, an amount equal to the expenses of the Department of Motor Vehicles in producing and administering this special license plate. The remaining funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee must be distributed to the Heritage Classic Foundation.

(C) Before the department produces and distributes the Heritage Classic Foundation special license plates pursuant to this section, it must receive:

(1) four hundred or more prepaid applications for the special license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of the license plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an individual or organization pursuant to this section, the department shall refund the four thousand dollars once an equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for that organization’s license plate. If the equivalent amount is not collected within four years of the first issuance of the respective license plate, the department shall retain the deposit;

(2) a plan to market the sale of the special license plate which must be approved by the department.

(D) If the department receives less than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular special license plate, it may not produce additional special license plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.