Charitable Vehicle Prep Tag Legislation

The Charitable Vehicle Prep Tag bill is an act I wrote to help ministries that refurbish donated vehicles in order to give them away to people in need.  Under current law, a ministry accepts a donated vehicle and must purchase a license plate in order to drive it on the public roads to take it for repair and to test drive the vehicle.  Most often the ministry only has the car for a few weeks so the purchase of the license plate for each vehicle they refurbish can add up to quite an expense.

Enter the Charitable Vehicle Prep Tag – much like a prep tag for an auto dealer which allows the dealer to use the tag on any vehicle in inventory – this tag will allow ministries to use a single tag for any vehicle they are refurbishing for donation to a needy individual.  This bill will save ministries a great deal of money.

People often ask me from where does legislation derive – the truth is it can originate from any number of places; the Governor, a legislator’s own idea, a public policy organization or a lobbyist but I feel the best legislation is born from the people in the district I represent. 

The best part of this bill is the story behind how it came about.  About six weeks ago, just two days before the bill filing deadline, I met Butch O’Neal at Courtney’s Restaurant in Mt. Juliet– he was having dinner with the other members of Gladeville Baptist Church’s vehicle ministry.  I almost didn’t make it to the meeting that night because of a meeting I was in at the legislature which ran later than I’d expected.  I hurried back to Mt. Juliet in order to attend the Mt. Juliet Republican Woman’s meeting at Courtney’s.  The ladies’ once a month meeting usually meets in the smaller room on the side but due to the extremely cold weather that night – management asked the ladies if they wouldn’t be more comfortable in the larger meeting room.  They accepted, so that happened to place the ladies in the same room as the Gladeville ministry’s dinner. Norma Otto introduced me to the group and that is when I learned of this expense and we discussed creating a prep tag much like auto dealers use. 

Just imagine all of the events that had to coincide for Butch and I to meet that night for this bill to be possible this year.  However, what is truly amazing is that this was an annual dinner for the ministry - they only meet for this dinner once a year. 

That really gives me a thrill!