§ 23-2-172 — Registration Renewal Hold; Enforcement of Judgements

(a)(1) If the authority, department, or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, has sent a Failure to Pay a Toll Citation in accordance with Section 23-2-169, and the owner fails to pay the citation within the required time period, the authority or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, may notify the department that the citation has not been paid and request the department to place a hold on the registration renewal of the vehicle associated with the violation. After notification and request, the department shall notify the local license plate issuing official on the first of each month that a registration renewal hold has been placed on the vehicle, and the local license plate issuing official shall refuse to renew the vehicle registration of the vehicle identified for failure to pay the toll. The vehicle owner shall not be permitted to renew the vehicle registration with the local license plate issuing official until all outstanding tolls and assessed administrative fees, including fees assessed by the authority, department, or private toll entity, are resolved. However, the local license plate issuing official may issue a temporary license plate under Sections 32-6-213 and 32-6-214 to allow adequate time to allow the registration renewal hold to be removed. Any private toll entity receiving payment under this provision shall remit 10 percent of the total amount collected by enforcement of a registration renewal hold to be deposited into, and recorded separately in, the county general fund and expended solely for the operational expenses of the office of the local license plate issuing official. The registration hold is not subject to review or appeal except as provided in this article.
(2) At least 10 calendar days before the registration renewal hold is placed on the vehicle, the authority, department, or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, shall give notice of the hold to the owner of the vehicle. The notice shall be by first-class mail. The notice shall inform the owner how to remove the hold and shall provide the owner notice of the appeal procedures.
(3)a. A person seeking removal of a vehicle registration renewal hold shall pay all outstanding tolls and assessed administrative fees to the authority, department, or private toll entity. If all outstanding tolls and assessed fees are paid in full or otherwise resolved, the toll authority or department shall notify the local license plate issuing official that the registration renewal hold has been removed and provide the local license plate issuing official with the ability to verify that the non-renewal notice has been removed through an electronic portal. Upon request, the authority or department shall provide to the owner or operator of the vehicle verification of payment and removal of the registration renewal hold through an electronic portal.
b. The authority or department shall develop and maintain an electronic portal accessible by the owner for the access, verification, and payment of toll violations and fees. At the request of the local license plate issuing official, the department or authority shall communicate directly with the third-party vendor utilized by the local license plate issuing official for the processing of registration information. The authority may adopt rules relating to the creation and maintenance of the electronic portal. A private toll entity that requests the department to place a registration renewal hold on a vehicle shall comply with the rules adopted by the authority.
c. A person who receives notice of a vehicle registration renewal hold may file an appeal within 60 days of receipt of the notice. The appeal shall be filed in the local district court and is limited to the defenses against liability provided in Section 23-2-171.
d. The payment or nonpayment of all outstanding tolls and assessed administrative fees for removal of a vehicle registration renewal hold as set out in paragraph a. shall not waive, be a condition of, or affect a person’s right to file an appeal in a court of appropriate jurisdiction to appeal the payment of the tolls and assessed administrative fees using the defenses provided in Section 23-2-171.
(4) When a nonresident is issued a Failure to Pay Toll Citation and the nonresident fails to pay the citation within the required time period, the authority, department, or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, may transmit a certified copy of the record of the failure to pay to the official in charge of the issuance of vehicle registration certificates in the state in which the nonresident resides, if the law of the other state provides for action similar to that provided for in this section.
(b)(1) If the authority, department, or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, has pursued payment of the citation by civil suit pursuant to Section 23-2-170 and a district court determines that the person or entity charged with liability under this article is liable, the court shall enter a judgment against the person or entity and mail a copy of the judgment to the person or entity. The court shall collect the unpaid tolls and administrative fee. The court may impose court costs and a civil penalty of up to one hundred dollars ($100) for each violation. Tolls, fees, and penalties shall be forwarded to the entity administering the tolls at the facility where the violation occurred.
(2) Upon failure to satisfy a judgment for an action brought under Section 23-2-170 within 60 days of its entry and upon the written request of the authority, department, or private toll entity, or its agent or representative, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court, or of the judge of a court that has no clerk in which the judgment is rendered within this state, to forward a certified copy of the judgment to the Secretary of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency or his or her designee after the expiration of the 60 days.
(3) The Secretary of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency or his or her designee, upon the receipt of a certified copy of a judgment under subdivision (2), shall suspend the driver’s license of any resident and the operating privilege, as defined in Section 32-7-2(6), of any nonresident against whom judgment was rendered.
(4) The resident’s driver’s license and the nonresident’s operating privilege shall remain suspended until the judgment under subdivision (2) is satisfied and evidence of its satisfaction has been presented to the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency.
(5) When a nonresident’s operating privilege is suspended pursuant to this section, the Secretary of the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency or his or her designee shall transmit a certified copy of the record of the action to the official in charge of the issuance of driver’s licenses in the state in which the nonresident resides, if the law of such other state provides for action similar to that provided for in this section. Nothing in this section shall require the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to enforce the suspension of operating privileges of a nonresident until the department or authority enters into a reciprocal agreement under Section 23-2-173.
(6) Any person seeking reinstatement of a driver’s license suspended under this section shall also comply with the requirements provided in Section 32-6-17.

Legislative History

(Act 2017-375, §1; Act 2019-501, §1.)