Brief (1)
Sub. for SB 492 authorizes the issuance of distinctive license plates to enrolled members of the resident Native American tribes in Kansas: specifically, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas, and the Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Missouri.
A person who is an enrolled member of one of the four tribes and who is a resident of Kansas may make application for a distinctive license plate. The person would be required to pay a fee of $5.00, in lieu of the regular license fee. Each tribe may impose a fee for the issuance of the distinctive license plate, and may use the revenue from such fees in the manner determined by the tribe.
Each tribe would design its distinctive license plate, with the approval of the Director of Vehicles, and the tribe would pay the initial cost of silk-screening the distinctive license plates. The four tribes would be exempt from the requirement that the initial issuance of a distinctive plate be for at least 500 license plates.
The original version of SB 492 contained amendments to the Tribal Gaming Oversight Act, as requested by the State Gaming Agency.
Background
The provisions regarding the issuance of distinctive license plates for resident tribal members were requested by the Chief Legal Counsel of the Governor's Office, who noted that the state is currently in litigation with one of the tribes over the issuance of tribal license plates. There were no opponents.
The fiscal note on the original version of SB 492 is not relevant to the substitute bill.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html