(a)

lawyer at desk

Ask a traffic law question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified traffic lawyers.
Parking violations, accidents, DUI/DWI, licensing, registration, and more
Protect your vehicle and your rights with expert legal help now
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-4-219

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Department: means the department of revenue. See Tennessee Code 55-1-111
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Owner: means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Street: means the entire width between boundary lines of every way when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1)

(A) Upon the sworn statement from the head of any department of state government or the county mayor of any county, or the mayor or other executive head of any town or city, or upon certification of authorized officials of the United States government, or upon the sworn statement from the chief of any private or volunteer fire department, that the motor vehicle for which application is being made for registration is owned or leased by the state, the county, municipality, United States government, or the private or volunteer fire department, and operated exclusively for essential governmental purposes or exclusively for fire protection purposes, the department, through the county clerk or as otherwise provided hereinafter, shall register the vehicles and issue registration plates upon the payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents ($1.25).
(B) In addition to the governmental entities listed in subdivision (a)(1)(A), senior citizens service centers which meet the standards set by the commission on aging and disability for eligibility to receive state funds may also apply for government service plates under this section for vans owned by the centers and used exclusively for the centers’ activities.
(C) In addition to the governmental entities listed in subdivisions (a)(1)(A) and (B), human resource agencies created pursuant to § 13-26-102 and development districts as created pursuant to § 13-14-102 may also apply for government service plates under this section for vans owned by such human resource agencies and development districts and used exclusively for agencies’ and districts’ activities.
(D) In addition to the governmental entities listed in subdivisions (a)(1)(A) and (B), community action agencies may also apply for government service plates under this section for vans owned by such community action agencies and used exclusively for agencies’ activities.
(2) The county clerk shall have a right to collect the fee for registration as hereinafter provided.
(3) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate this section.
(4) Registration certificates and plates shall be valid for the motor vehicles until the transfer of ownership or the destruction of the motor vehicles at which time the registration shall expire. Upon the expiration of any such registration, the registration certificates and plates shall be returned to the department.
(5) Upon proper application through the county clerk, the registration plates may be transferred to another motor vehicle acquired by the owner to whom the registration certificates and plates were previously issued upon the payment of one dollar ($1.00) plus the county clerk’s fee, except that application from the head of any department of state government may be made directly to the department of revenue.
(6) All registration plates issued to state departmental agencies shall be of a distinctive design as approved by the commissioner and shall not display the year of issuance. All registration plates issued to governmental agencies, other than the state, shall be of a distinctive design and shall have conspicuously inscribed, stamped or printed thereon so as to be easily seen and read the words “Govt. Service” or “Govt. Ser.” All registration plates issued to private or volunteer fire departments shall be of a distinctive design.
(b) The exemption conferred by this section shall apply only to motor vehicles owned or leased and operated by governmental units or private or volunteer fire department units exclusively for governmental and fire protection purposes and shall not apply to motor vehicles operated by governmental units as bailee.
(c)

(1) “Essential government purposes” includes the operation of local transit service by independent contractors operating a local transit company.
(2) As used in this subsection (c):

(A) “Local transit company” means a person, firm, partnership or corporation, engaged in furnishing, and at least sixty percent (60%) of the total passenger fare revenue of which shall be derived from, scheduled common carrier public passenger land transportation service along the regular routes within a municipality and the territory adjacent thereto, or within a metropolitan government created under title 7, chapters 1-3, the operation of which is supervised, regulated and controlled as a street railway company, under § 65-16-101 [repealed] and all other legislative and statutory provisions applicable thereto; and
(B) “Local transit service” means scheduled common carrier public passenger land transportation service furnished by a local transit company within the territorial limits of the regulatory jurisdiction of the municipality or metropolitan government that is authorized to supervise, regulate and control the operations of such company, under § 65-16-101 [repealed], and all other legislative and statutory provisions applicable thereto.
(d) Upon the further certification of the person authorized by this section to apply for registration that issuance of plates has been requested for vehicles assigned for use in the investigation of actual or suspected violations of the law, the department may issue plates or authorize issuance thereof from the regular series used for non-tax-exempt vehicles. The registrar of motor vehicles, with the approval of the attorney general and reporter, may enter into agreements with the proper officials of other states for the exchange of plates for the purposes provided in this section.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 2 Contents