Mo. Senate Approves Refunds When License Plates Returned

Missourians can get a refund on their auto insurance when they get rid of a vehicle and don’t replace it. So why can’t they get a refund from the state on their vehicle license fees?

That’s a question Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields said was posed to him by a constituent. He had no good answer.

On Monday, the Senate passed SB19 with a vote of 32-2 that would allow Missourians to seek a prorated refund on their vehicle license fees if they turn in their license plates to the state.

The state would pay only the refund, however, if it amounts to at least $5.

Shields’ bill now moves to the House.

In the Senate, it was placed on the chamber’s noncontroversial agenda. But Sens. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, and Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, voted against it.

Bray was concerned about the potential loss of state money, suggesting that perhaps an amendment could be added in the House prohibiting any state advertising of the available refund “so it will be “minimally taken advantage of.”

A financial analysis prepared by legislative researchers and the Department of Revenue, which oversees vehicle licenses, estimated the refunds would cost the state less than $100,000 annually.

“I don’t think there’s that many people who would take advantage of it,” said Shields, R-St. Joseph, partly because most people buy a different vehicle when they sell one.