Following the shooting deaths of nine black worshippers in June at a historically significant Charleston church and South Carolina’s subsequent removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, some have called upon North Carolina officials to stop issuing specialty license plates featuring the Confederate flag. N.C. Governor Pat McCrory has said that the General Assembly must pass legislation to halt issuance of the plates. One veteran legislator was quoted in this News and Observer story as saying that he never would have voted to authorize such a special plate and never recalls seeing such legislation. A spokesperson for another legislator was quoted as saying that the Governor was empowered to end issuance of the plates. Who’s right? As it turns out, the answer is not obvious. Where’s the statute? There’s a reason legislators might not remember authorizing license plates featuring the Confederate flag. They never specifically did so. Indeed, G.S. 20-79.4(b) lists 250 types of special registration plates that DMV “shall issue.” None of these plates feature the Confederate flag. So why were Confederate flag plates ever issued? The General Assembly authorized issuance of license plates identifying civic clubs and displaying the emblem of the identified club in a provision currently codified as G.S. 20-79.4(b)(42). That statutory subdivision specifies that license plates are “[i]ssuable to a member of a nationally recognized civic organization whose member clubs in the State are exempt from State corporate income tax.” It lists, as examples of these types of clubs, Jaycees, Kiwanis, Optimist, Rotary, [...]
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