Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-433

Opinion No. 433 l\(otor Vehicles-Registration and Re- Regish-ation-Delinquent Taxes -Delinquent License. HELD: A county treasurer may not accept an application for the registra- tion or re-registration of a motor ve- hicle for the year 1934 without pay- ment of delinquent property taxes on such vehicle which are not a lien upon real estate. Where applicant for registration shows good certificate of title to a mo- tor vehicle, and where said motor ve- hicle was operated in Montana during the year 1933 or previous years and was subject to registration or re-regis- tration but was not so registered 01' re-registered in Montana, the county treasurer may accept application for registration without collecting deliIl- quent license tax. The application for registration need not be a sworn or verified application. January 31, 1934. Your request for an opinion is as follows: "1. If a motor vehicle were subject to taxation in Montana for the year 1933 or previous years, and the taxes on said motor vehicle were not paid and are not a lien upon real estate, can the County 'J'reasurer accept an application for the registration or reo registration of said motor vehicle for the year 1934 without paying such de- linquent tax'! "2. Under the provisions of Senate Bill No.7, now Chapter 13 of the 1933 Special Session Laws, if a motor ve- hicle were operated in Montana dur- ing the year 1933 or previous years and were subject to registration or re-registration in Montana, but was not so registered or re-registered for all or part of such time as it was sub- ject to such registration can the Coun- ty Treasurer accept the application for registration or re-registration of such motor vehicle for the year 1934 without collecting any or all of the delinquent fees due for registration, proyjded the applicant has an a uthen- tic and regularly issued certificate of title to such motor vehicle? "3. A sentence of the above Chap- ter 13 reads: 'Provided that no appli- cation for registration or re-registra- OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 3tH tion of any motor vehicle hereafter need be verified'. Does this mean that applications for registration ami re-registration of motor vehicles do not have to be sworn to and acknowl- edged before a proper official? "There seems to be some question as to the meaning of the above chap- ter." The Supreme Court in the case of Vennekolt v. Lutey, 96 Mont. i2, held that those pro\'isions of Chapter 158, Laws of 1933, which related to the tax- ation of motor vehicles were invalid. It further held in the same case that a repealing clause in a statute of which a porUon is unconstitutional is appli- cable only to laws inconsistent with the operative provisions of such statute. Under this rule, the attempted repeal of sections 1, 2 and 3, Chapter 1U, Laws of 1929, by Chapter 158 is, in our judgment, so far ineffective as to jus- tify us in answering your first ques· tion in the negative. Section 1, Chapter 13, Laws of the Twenty-third Legislative Assembly in l~xtraordinary Session, provides, among other things, that "upon applica- tion for registration or re-registration of motor vehicles upon which license has not been paid prior to January 1st, 1934, that if the applicant in possession of any motor vehicle shall present, with his application for license, an authen. tic ami regularly issued certificate of title to any motor vehicle for which ap· plicant desires to obtain a license, Rhowing good title in applicant, and no license was obtained for such motor vehicle for the last preceding year, the county treasurer shall accept payment for the license for such motor vehicle for the current year and a license shall be issued to such applicant." In view of the language just quoted, we are constrained to answer your second question in the affirmative in a case where the certificate of title to the mo- tor vehicle shows a good title in the' applicant and no license fee was paid thereon for the year 1933. Formerly the owner of a motor ve- hicle \vas required to file a sworn ap- plication for registration or re-regis- tration, iJut this is no longer necessary as the proviso at the end of section 1 of said Chapter 13 permits the filing of an unverified application. Our an- swer to your third question is, there- fore, in the affirmative.