Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-639

Opinion No. 639 1\Iotor Vehicles-Licenses-Registra- tion for Less than Half Year. HELD: Under Section 1760, R. C. M., 1921, and amendments, one-half of the annual license fee must be collected for motor vehicle registrations within the last one-half year. November 5, 1934. You write to inquire if registration fees to be collected under Section 1760, R. C. l\-1. 1921, and amendments, may be collected by the payment of one- fourth of the annual registration fee if the registration takes place after September 3 of each year. Under this statute, as amended by Chapter 182 of the Laws of 1929, a payment of one-fourth of the annual license fee was authorized. When the statute was amended by Chapter 103, Laws of 1933 this provision was omit- ted and that statute does not appear to authorize such payment. The stat- ute was again amended by Chapter 38, La \VS of the Extraordinary Session of 1933-1934. This is the last expression of the legislative will upon this ques- tion and controls. It provides: "If any dealer, or motor vehicle or trailer, or semi-trailer, is originally registered six (6) months after the time of registra- tion, as set by law, the registration fee for the remainder of such year shall be one-half of the regular fee above given." • The right to register for one-fourth of a year is totally omitted from the present law and the statute specifically provides that a registration within the last one-half year shall require the collection of one-half of the annual reg- istration fee.