Section 40-2-33. Issuance of license plates; payment and disposition of fees; compensation of tag agents; required identification

   (a) (1) Upon compliance with the provisions of this chapter and the payment of the license fee required by law, the tag agent shall accept the application for registration and, except as otherwise provided for in this chapter, if the license plate or revalidation decal applied for is in such tag agent's inventory, he shall issue the appropriate plate or revalidation decal.

   (2) The commissioner may provide for the issuance of a temporary license plate for any low-speed vehicle, to be displayed until such time as a license plate of the design required by Code Section 40-2-31 has been issued to the registrant as a replacement for such temporary license plate; provided, however, that any such temporary license plate shall designate the low-speed vehicle as such; and provided, further, that the commissioner shall make available for issuance low-speed vehicle license plates of the design required by Code Section 40-2-31 not later than September 1, 2002.

   (3) If the license plate applied for is not in inventory, the application shall be approved and forwarded to the commissioner, who, upon receipt of a proper and approved application, shall issue the license plate applied for by mailing or delivering the plate to the applicant. Until the license plate is received by the applicant from the commissioner, the applicant may operate the vehicle without a license plate therefor upon the receipt issued to him by the tag agent.

(b) Except as provided for in Code Section 40-2-22, the amount of commission permitted as compensation to tag agents under this Code section shall be $1.00 per license plate or revalidation decal issued during any calendar year. Twenty-five cents for each license plate or revalidation decal sold in excess of 4,000 during any one calendar year shall become the property of the county and shall be turned over to the fiscal authorities of the county by the tag agent. The remaining portion of such commissions shall be disposed of as provided in Code Section 40-2-34.

(c) (1) Any other provisions of any law of this state, whether general, special, or local, to the contrary notwithstanding, and except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section and paragraph (2) of this subsection, the fees prescribed in subsection (b) of this Code section shall be retained by the tag agent appointed by the commissioner under this chapter and shall be his or her own personal compensation for the services rendered in the administration of this chapter, regardless of whether such agent may otherwise be an elected or appointed official of the county, and regardless of whether as such county officer he or she is compensated for the performance of the duties of such office on a fee basis or salary basis, or combination thereof. It shall be his or her duty, however, as agent for the commissioner in the administration of the purposes of this chapter, to compensate any additional personnel which may be necessary to enable said agent to effectuate the provisions of this chapter and the rules and regulations promulgated under this chapter by the commissioner.

   (2) If such tag agent shall be a salaried employee of the county and at a salary in excess of $7,999.00 per annum, the amount of such fees so collected shall go into the general treasury of the county. In such cases, it shall be the duty of the governing authorities of the county to furnish to the tag agent such additional clerical help as is necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

(d) The initial issuance of any tag, on or after July 1, 2007, shall not be made unless the applicant presents at the time of application a valid Georgia driver's license or Georgia identification card. This subsection shall not apply to those applicants expressly exempted in Code Section 40-5-21.

Ga. L. 1955, p. 659, § 3; Ga. L. 1957, p. 197, § 2; Ga. L. 1966, p. 508, § 3; Ga. L. 1970, p. 728, § 1; Code 1981, § 40-2-30; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 40; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 40; Ga. L. 1988, p. 377, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 857, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 159, § 1; Code 1981, § 40-2-33, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 779, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 419, § 8; Ga. L. 2000, p. 951, § 3-6; Ga. L. 2002, p. 512, § 7; Ga. L. 2007, p. 531, § 1/SB 38; Ga. L. 2010, p. 9, § 1-68/HB 1055.