Article 1. Exemptions of California Vehicle Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 6. >> Article 1.

No fees specified in this code, except fees not exempted under Section 9103, need be paid for any vehicle operated by the state, or by any county, city, district, or political subdivision of the state, or the United States, as lessee under a lease, lease-sale, or rental-purchase agreement that grants possession of the vehicle to the lessee for a period of 30 consecutive days or more.

The fees specified in this code except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for any vehicle owned by an educational institution of collegiate grade not conducted for profit and having an enrollment of 5,000 students or more and having an acreage of 5,000 acres or more, if such vehicle is used for fire-fighting purposes within the limits of the acreage of such institution and is operated principally on roads owned by such institution.

(a) In lieu of all other fees which are specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, a fee of fifteen dollars ($15) shall be paid for the registration and licensing of any privately owned schoolbus, as defined in Section 545, which is either of the following:
  (1) Owned by a private nonprofit educational organization and operated in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Education and the Department of the California Highway Patrol exclusively in transporting school pupils, or school pupils and employees, of the private nonprofit educational organization.
  (2) Operated in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Education and the Department of the California Highway Patrol exclusively in transporting school pupils, or school pupils and employees, of any public school or private nonprofit educational organization pursuant to a contract between a public school district or nonprofit educational organization and the owner or operator of the schoolbus. This section does not apply to any schoolbus which is operated pursuant to any contract which requires the public school district or nonprofit educational organization to pay any amount representing the costs of registration and weight fees unless and until the contract is amended to require only the payment of an amount representing the fee required by this section.
  (b) When a schoolbus under contract and registered pursuant to subdivision (a) is to be temporarily operated in such a manner that it becomes subject to full registration fees specified in this code, the owner may, prior to that operation, as an alternative to the full registration, secure a temporary permit to operate the vehicle in this state for any one or more calendar months. The permit shall be posted upon the windshield or other prominent place upon the vehicle, and shall identify the vehicle to which it is affixed. When so affixed, the permit shall serve as indicia of full registration for the period designated on the permit. Upon payment of the fees specified in Section 9266.5, the department may issue a temporary permit under this section.
  (c) Notwithstanding any other provision, any schoolbus used exclusively to transport students at or below the 12th-grade level to or from any school, for an education-related purpose, or for an activity sponsored by a nonprofit organization shall be deemed to be a schoolbus for the purposes of this section and shall pay a fee of fifteen dollars ($15) in lieu of all other fees which are specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards.
  (d) This section does not apply to a schoolbus, operated to transport persons who are developmentally disabled, as defined by the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Division 4.5 (commencing with Section 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code), to or from vocational, prevocational, or work training centers sponsored by the State Department of Developmental Services.

(a) Fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, are not required to be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by the United States or by any state or political subdivision of a state or by any municipality duly organized under the California Constitution or laws of this state.
  (b) The registration fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, are not required to be paid for any vehicle owned by a public entity described in subdivision (f) of Section 15975 of the Government Code.

The fees specified in this code except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by a public fire department organized as a nonprofit corporation and used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance, nor for any vehicle owned by a voluntary fire department organized under the laws of this state and used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for a vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe that has entered into a mutual aid agreement with a state, county, city, or other governmental municipality for fire protection and emergency response, and the equipment is used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for registration under Section 9250, need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code if the vehicle is owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe and the vehicle is used exclusively within the boundaries of lands under the jurisdiction of that Indian tribe, including the incidental use of that vehicle on highways within those boundaries.

(a) Except for fees for duplicate license plates, duplicate certificates, or duplicate cards, the fees specified in this code need not be paid for a vehicle that is of a type subject to registration under this code, and that is not used for transportation for hire, compensation, or profit, when owned by any of the following:
  (1) A disabled veteran.
  (2) A former American prisoner of war.
  (3) The surviving spouse of a former American prisoner of war who has elected to retain the special license plates issued under Section 5101.5.
  (4) A Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
  (5) The surviving spouse of a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who has elected to retain the special license plates issued under Section 5101.6.
  (b) The exemption granted by subdivision (a) shall not extend to more than one vehicle owned by a former American prisoner of war, a disabled veteran, or a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or a surviving spouse, and is applicable to the same vehicle as described in subdivision (b) of Section 10783, or subdivision (b) of Section 10783.2, of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
  (c) (1) The department may require a disabled veteran applying for an exemption under this section to submit a certificate signed by a physician and surgeon, or to the extent that it does not cause a reduction in the receipt of federal aid highway funds, by a nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, physician assistant, chiropractor, or optometrist, substantiating the disability.
  (2) The department may require a person applying for an exemption under this section for either of the following reasons to do any of the following:
  (A) By reason of the person's status as a former prisoner of war, to show, by satisfactory proof, his or her former prisoner-of-war status.
  (B) By reason of the person's status of receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, to show, by satisfactory proof, that he or she is a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
  (d) For the purposes of this section, the term "vehicle" means any of the following:
  (1) A passenger motor vehicle.
  (2) A motorcycle.
  (3) A commercial motor vehicle of less than 8,001 pounds unladen weight.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates or cards, need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code which is operated by the Civil Air Patrol, when the vehicle has been transferred to the Civil Air Patrol by the United States Government, or any agency thereof, if by federal regulation or directive the use of such vehicle is restricted to defined activities of the Civil Air Patrol, and if by federal regulation or directive the vehicle must be returned to the United States Government when no longer required or suited for use by the Civil Air Patrol. Such vehicles shall be registered as otherwise required under this code by the Civil Air Patrol and the Civil Air Patrol shall display a license plate or plates bearing distinguishing marks or symbols as specified in this code, which plate or plates shall be furnished by the department free of charge.

The weight fees for commercial vehicles specified in Sections 9400 and 9400.1 do not apply to any of the following:
  (a) A vehicle operated by a passenger stage corporation, as defined in Section 226 of the Public Utilities Code, that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission, if all of the following conditions are met:
  (1) The vehicle is operated exclusively on any line or lines having a one-way route mileage not exceeding 15 miles, and each of those lines is operated in either of the following areas:
  (A) In urban or suburban areas or between cities in close proximity.
  (B) Between nonadjacent urban or suburban areas or cities, the area between which is substantially residential, commercial, or industrial as distinguished from rural.
  (2) The principal business of the passenger stage corporation is the operation of vehicles on a route or routes as defined in paragraph (1).
  (b) A vehicle operated exclusively on any line or lines within the limits of a single city by a person engaged as a common carrier of passengers between fixed termini or over a regular route, 98 percent of whose operations, as measured by total route mileage operated, are exclusively within the limits of a single city, and who by reason thereof is not a passenger stage corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission.
  (c) Vanpool vehicles.
  (d) A vehicle purchased with federal funds under the authority of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Section 5310 of Title 49 of the United States Code or Chapter 35 (commencing with Section 3001) of Title 42 of the United States Code for the purpose of providing specialized transportation services to senior citizens and handicapped persons by public and private nonprofit operators of specialized transportation service agencies.
  (e) A vehicle operated solely for the purpose of providing specialized transportation services to senior citizens and persons with disabilities, by a nonprofit, public benefit consolidated transportation service agency designated under Section 15975 of the Government Code.