(a) Vanity license plates mean any license plates, assigned to a passenger motor vehicle of the first division, to a motor vehicle of the second division registered at not more than 8,000 pounds, to a trailer weighing 8,000 pounds or less paying the flat weight tax, to a funeral home vehicle, an electric vehicle, or a recreational vehicle, which display a registration number containing 1 to 7 letters and no numbers or 1, 2, or 3 numbers and no letters as requested by the owner of the vehicle and license plates issued to retired members of Congress under Section 3-610.1 or to retired members of the General Assembly as provided in Section 3-606.1. Personalized license plates mean any license plates, assigned to a passenger motor vehicle of the first division, to a motor vehicle of the second division registered at not more than 8,000 pounds, to a trailer weighing 8,000 pounds or less paying the flat weight tax, to a funeral home vehicle, an electric vehicle, or a recreational vehicle, which display a registration number containing one of the following combinations of letters and numbers, as requested by the owner of the vehicle:
 
     Standard Passenger Plates
     First Division Vehicles
 
     1 letter plus 0-99
     2 letters plus 0-99
     3 letters plus 0-99
     4 letters plus 0-99
     5 letters plus 0-99
     6 letters plus 0-9
 
     Second Division Vehicles
     8,000 pounds or less, Trailers
     8,000 pounds or less paying the flat
     weight tax, and Recreation Vehicles
 
     0-999 plus 1 letter
     0-999 plus 2 letters
     0-999 plus 3 letters
     0-99 plus 4 letters
     0-9 plus 5 letters
     (b) For any registration period commencing after December 31, 2003, any person who is the registered owner of a passenger motor vehicle of the first division, of a motor vehicle of the second division registered at not more than 8,000 pounds, of a trailer weighing 8,000 pounds or less paying the flat weight tax, of a funeral home vehicle, of an electric vehicle, or of a recreational vehicle registered with the Secretary of State or who makes application for an original registration of such a motor vehicle or renewal registration of such a motor vehicle may, upon payment of a fee prescribed in Section 3-806.1 or Section 3-806.5, apply to the Secretary of State for vanity or personalized license plates.
     (c) Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter 3, vanity and personalized license plates as issued under this Section shall be the same color and design as other passenger vehicle license plates or electric vehicle license plates and shall not in any manner conflict with any other existing passenger, commercial, trailer, motorcycle, or special license plate series. However, special registration plates issued under Sections 3-611 and 3-616 for vehicles operated by or for persons with disabilities may also be vanity or personalized license plates.
     (d) Vanity and personalized license plates shall be issued only to the registered owner of the vehicle on which they are to be displayed, except as provided in Sections 3-611 and 3-616 for special registration plates for vehicles operated by or for persons with disabilities.
     (e) An applicant for the issuance of vanity or personalized license plates or subsequent renewal thereof shall file an application in such form and manner and by such date as the Secretary of State may, in his discretion, require.
     No vanity nor personalized license plates shall be approved, manufactured, or distributed that contain any characters, symbols other than the international accessibility symbol for vehicles operated by or for persons with disabilities, foreign words, or letters of punctuation.
     (f) Vanity and personalized license plates as issued pursuant to this Act may be subject to the Staggered Registration System as prescribed by the Secretary of State.
     (g) For purposes of this Section, “funeral home vehicle” means any motor vehicle of the first division or motor vehicle of the second division weighing 8,000 pounds or less that is owned or leased by a funeral home.
     (h) As used in this Section, “electric vehicle” means any vehicle that is required to be registered under Section 3-805.