Purple Heart recipients may apply for special motor vehicle license plates, and the director must issue them if the applicant meets the section’s conditions.
301.451. Purple Heart medal, special license plates. — (1) Any person who has been awarded the purple heart medal may apply for special motor vehicle license plates for any vehicle he or she owns, either solely or jointly, other than commercial vehicles weighing over twenty-four thousand pounds. (2) Any such person shall make application for the special license plates on a form provided by the director of revenue and furnish such proof as a recipient of the purple heart medal as the director may require. The director shall then issue license plates bearing letters or numbers or a combination thereof, with the words "PURPLE HEART" in place of the words "SHOW-ME STATE" in a form prescribed by the advisory committee established in section 301.129*. (3) Such license plates shall be made with fully reflective material with a common color scheme and design, shall be clearly visible at night, and shall be aesthetically attractive, as prescribed by section 301.130. (4) There shall be no fee charged for the first set of license plates issued to an eligible person under this section. A second or subsequent set of license plates issued to the eligible person under this section shall be subject to regular registration fees but not to any fee in addition to regular registration fees. (5) There shall be no limit on the number of license plates any person qualified under this section may obtain so long as each set of license plates issued under this section is issued for vehicles owned solely or jointly by such person. (6) License plates issued under the provisions of this section shall not be transferable to any other person, except that, in the event of the death of the qualified person, any registered co-owner of the motor vehicle shall be entitled to use and renew the license plates until he or she remarries or, if he or she does not remarry, for the remainder of his or her life. (L. 1991 S.B. 47 § 1, A.L. 1993 S.B. 329, A.L. 1995 S.B. 70, A.L. 1997 S.B. 69, A.L. 2006 H.B. 1382 & 1158, A.L. 2009 H.B. 427, A.L. 2015 H.B. 403, A.L. 2016 H.B. 2380, A.L. 2020 S.B. 656) *Section 301.129 was repealed by H.B. 1298 Revision, 2014.