A distinction will be established through a new law in registration and license plate display between commercial and non-commercial pickup trucks.
Pickup trucks with a rated capacity of one ton or more are currently registered as trucks, while smaller pickup trucks are registered as passenger automobiles, meaning the owner pays a registration tax on the same schedule as other passenger-type vehicles.
According to Rep. Deb Kiel (R-Crookston), who sponsors the law with Sen. Michael Jungbauer (R-East Bethel), one-ton pickup trucks are displayed as Y class truck plates for the purposes of registration and taxation; however, these owners are occasionally stopped by law enforcement and subject to commercial vehicle compliance checks, even if they are not used in commercial vehicle operations. Under the law, a new license plate would identify certain trucks as non-commercial, thereby avoiding unnecessary road compliance checks by law enforcement.
The law, which takes effect Aug. 1, 2011, changes a 2008 law on pickup truck registration that was set to take effect in 2012.
HF1105*/
SF1058/CH109
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