(a) On or before July 1, 2018, the commissioner shall coordinate with the Fleet Management Division established pursuant to § 5A-12-1 et seq. of this code and the Enterprise Resource Planning Board established pursuant to § 12-6D-1 et seq. of this code and other applicable agencies, to develop a standardized titling and registration system for state vehicles. To the extent practicable, the standardization of vehicle title, registration, and state vehicle license plates shall conform to the state’s central accounting system maintained by the Enterprise Resource Planning Board. The standardization of state vehicle titles, registrations, and license plates, as described in this section, shall be known as the “State Vehicle Title, Registration, and Relicensing Project of 2018”. Every spending unit shall comply with the provisions of this section, and § 17A-3-23 of this code.

(b) The commissioner, in coordination with the Fleet Management Division, shall develop a standard system for identifying and recording the names of agencies, offices, or spending units to which each state vehicle is assigned, or registered, and such standard naming conventions shall be developed to align with the state’s central accounting system, and the centralized state vehicle inventory system. The commissioner shall propose legislative and emergency rules, pursuant to § 29A-3-1 et seq. of this code, establishing those standard naming conventions for the registration, titling, and licensing of every state vehicle, and assigning by rule a list of the standardized naming conventions for each spending unit for the purpose of issuing new title, registration, and license plates to each state vehicle by December 31, 2018.

(c) Once the commissioner has promulgated legislative and emergency rules as authorized pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, and not later than September 1, 2018, the division shall begin to issue the standardized title, registration, and state vehicle license plates for all state vehicles.

(d) Any spending unit applying to license or relicense a state vehicle pursuant to this section shall include with the application an affirmative statement that the vehicle is a state asset recorded in the central accounting system as maintained by the Enterprise Resource Planning Board before the commissioner is required to issue any motor vehicle registration plates: Provided, That for leased vehicles, the spending unit shall affirm to the commissioner that the vehicle is leased and not required to be recorded in the state central accounting system.

(e) The commissioner shall confirm that each vehicle for which an agency applies for a license, title, or registration is properly listed within the centralized accounting system as being a vehicle owned by a state agency before processing the application.

(f) The commissioner is authorized, by legislative and emergency rule, to establish a procedure whereby the commissioner shall reject the application for a state vehicle title, registration and state vehicle license plate if that application does not conform to the standard naming convention requirements. The commissioner shall provide by rule for the reasonable remedy, correcting of errors, or to compel compliance with the standard naming conventions.

(g) At midnight on December 31, 2018, all green state vehicle license plates with white lettering affixed to vehicles shall expire. The commissioner, in coordination with the Fleet Management Division, shall provide notice to each spending unit, and advertise as deemed appropriate, to inform the fleet coordinators, as defined in § 5A-12-3 of this code, that such license plates expire and the procedure for being issued new titles, registrations, and license plates pursuant to this article. The head of each spending unit with state vehicles shall cooperate and comply with the requirements of the State Vehicle Title, Registration, and Relicensing Project of 2018, and the centralized accounting system.

(h) Upon receipt of the new title, registration, and license plates, each spending unit shall enter the appropriate information into the state’s central accounting system maintained by the Enterprise Resource Planning Board, in such detail and specificity as required by the board, the Fleet Management Division established pursuant to § 5A-12-1 et seq. of this code.