§503.  Application for registration

A.(1)  Application for registration of a vehicle required to be registered under the provisions of this Chapter shall be made by the owner thereof, upon the appropriate form approved or furnished by the secretary.

(2)  Every application shall be signed by the owner and contain the address of his domicile, or if he is not domiciled in Louisiana, the address of his residence and a brief description of the vehicle to be registered, including the engine number or serial number, or both, as required by the secretary, whether new or used, and, upon the registration of a new vehicle, the date of sale by the manufacturer or dealer to the person first operating such vehicle.

(3)  The address required herein shall be the physical location of the applicant's residence or in the instance of business ownership of the vehicle, the physical location of the business or the physical location where the vehicle is primarily used or domiciled, in addition to the mailing address.  For purposes of this Section, law enforcement officers, court officers, and members of their immediate families as defined in R.S. 32:409(C) shall be required to disclose their physical residential address to the department only for purposes of calculating taxes which may be due on the motor vehicle at the time of registration; however, such persons shall be given the option of providing their official work address or post office box address instead of a residential address for purposes of the application.

(4)  The application shall contain such other information as may be required by the secretary.

B.  If the vehicle for which registration is applied is a specially constructed, reconstructed, or a foreign vehicle, such fact shall be stated in the application, and with reference to every foreign vehicle which has been registered outside of this state, the owner shall exhibit to the secretary the certificate of title and registration certificate or other evidence of such former registration as may be in the applicant's possession or control, or such other evidence as will satisfy the secretary that the applicant is the lawful owner or possessor of the vehicle.

C.  Renewals of the registration or license tax may be made by mail.  In addition to the registration or license tax, there shall be a minimum assessed fee of two dollars to cover the cost of handling the processing of renewals.  Additionally, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, there may be additional charges assessed to cover the cost of operation.  Any proposed additional charges shall be subject to oversight review by the Joint Legislative Committee on Transportation, Highways, and Public Works.

D, E.  Repealed by Acts 1992, No. 984, §18.

F.  When an application for registration is rejected for any reason, the application shall be returned to the applicant.  The time limit for submitting the application shall be extended for a single period of thirty days from the date the rejected application was received by the applicant.  If the applicant reapplies for registration within the thirty-day extension, the applicant shall not be charged penalties or interest for that period of time.

Amended by Acts 1954, No. 27, §2; Acts 1986, No. 971, §1; Acts 1986, No. 344, §1; Acts 1987, No. 337, §1, eff. July 6, 1987; Acts 1989, No. 407, §1; Acts 1991, No. 348, §1; Acts 1992, No. 183, §1; Acts 1992, No. 984, §18; Acts 1995, No. 393, §2, eff. June 16, 1995; Acts 1995, No. 773, §1; Acts 2006, No. 416, §2.