5. a. (1) The chief administrator, after appropriate inquiry and investigation, may license persons to operate private inspection facilities to inspect initially, reinspect and certify all motor vehicles that are subject to inspection pursuant to R.S.39:8-1. A person shall not be licensed unless qualified to conduct the inspections and reinspections, and in possession of the necessary equipment.

(2) The chief administrator, by regulation with the concurrence of the Department of Environmental Protection, may establish a limited number of distinct classes of licenses, may restrict the activities authorized by each distinct class of license, including restrictions as to the vehicles that may be inspected or reinspected, and may restrict the services that holders of each class may perform in addition to the activities authorized by the license. These regulations shall permit private inspection facilities to perform initial inspections on motor vehicles four years old or newer and, to the maximum extent feasible, permit private inspection facilities to perform initial inspections on motor vehicles that are more than four years old and to repair and reinspect all motor vehicles.

b. (1) The chief administrator may license as a private inspection facility any person who is the owner or lessee of 10 or more motor vehicles 1or any owner or lessee of diesel buses, heavy-duty diesel trucks, or other diesel-powered motor vehicles1 to initially inspect, reinspect and certify vehicles that the person owns or leases.

(2) The chief administrator, by regulation with the concurrence of the Department of Environmental Protection, may restrict the activities authorized by a license issued pursuant to this subsection, including restrictions as to the vehicles that may be inspected or reinspected, and may restrict the services that holders of this license may perform in addition to the activities authorized by the license.

c. The chief administrator shall require a private inspection facility licensee to have in effect at all times liability insurance or such other proof of financial responsibility as the chief administrator may prescribe; and may require a performance bond.

d. The chief administrator shall prescribe the form and content of the application for a private inspection facility license, and may charge a nonrefundable application fee not to exceed $20. The chief administrator may charge a license fee, not to exceed $250, to be paid by a person for each year in which that person holds a private inspection facility license. The chief administrator may require licenses that shall expire on a date fixed by the chief administrator. All fees collected pursuant to this subsection shall be paid to the State Treasurer and deposited in the “Motor Vehicle Inspection Fund” established pursuant to subsection j. of R.S.39:8-2.

e. For the purposes of this section, each applicant for a license shall submit to the chief administrator the applicant’s name, address, fingerprints and written consent for a criminal history record background check to be performed. The chief administrator is hereby authorized to exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistent with applicable State and federal laws, rules and regulations, for purposes of facilitating determinations concerning licensure eligibility. The applicant shall bear the cost for the criminal history record background check, including all costs of administering and processing the check. The Division of State Police shall promptly notify the chief administrator in the event a current holder of a license or prospective applicant, who was the subject of a criminal history record background check pursuant to this section, is arrested for a crime or offense in this State after the date the background check was performed.

L.1995, c.112, s.5; amended 2003, c.199, s.21; 2009, c.331, s.7.