Skip to Content
March 29, 2024 Rain | 39°F
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

AN ACT RELATIVE TO GOLD STAR REGISTRATION PLATES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 2 of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “children”, in line 425, the following words:- siblings, grandchildren.

SECTION 2. Said section 2 of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “persons”, in line 429, the following words:- or a distinctive “Gold Star Family” emblem to be affixed to a registration plate for a motorcycle privately owned and principally used by such persons.

SECTION 3. Said section 2 of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following 3 paragraphs:-

The registrar shall develop guidelines for and shall implement a license plate retention program for members of the United States military and the United States Department of Defense employees who are deployed to, or present in, a theater of combat operations. Under the program, a resident of the commonwealth who is serving in the United States military, the United States military reserves, the Massachusetts National Guard or working as a civilian employee of the United States Department of Defense or any of its agencies, and is deployed to, or present in, a theater of combat operations, may retain 1 or more of his motor vehicle license plates, at no charge, for the duration of his deployment. The registrar shall develop and make available appropriate forms which may be used by a qualifying individual to cancel his automobile insurance and suspend his vehicle’s registration, taking effect prior to deployment and upon the sale or storage of his motor vehicle. Upon returning from his deployment, the vehicle’s owner shall furnish the registrar with proof that his automobile insurance policy has been reinstated, and the registrar may then allow him to register and affix his plates to a new vehicle or to re-register the plates and affix them to an existing vehicle held in storage.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the surviving spouse of a veteran, whose veteran spouse was not in possession of a “VETERAN” registration plate at the time of death, from applying for and receiving a “VETERAN” registration plate if the surviving spouse has not remarried.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the surviving spouse of a veteran, whose veteran spouse’s “VETERAN” registration plate was returned to the registry at the time of death, from applying for and receiving a “VETERAN” registration plate if the surviving spouse has not remarried.

Approved December 18, 2008