PIERRE - Do NOT try to re-register your vehicle or pick up your new South Dakota license plates on Monday, June 30.

In fact, if you can't get to the courthouse by Friday, June 27, you should wait until after July 4.

The Department of Motor Vehicles has set aside June 30 as the date to switch to a different kind of registration. Under the new system, license plates will follow the owner, rather than the vehicle.

"Our goal is to make it easier and more efficient," DMV Director Deb Hillmer said.

However, that means changing up to 4 million records on cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, motorhomes, snowmobiles, boats and any other conveyance that requires registration.

"This is HUGE," Hillmer said.

In theory, the new system should be up and running the day it takes effect - July 1 - but Hillmer said, "I'm a realist."

She'll send notes to anyone who is scheduled to get new plates in June, July and August.

The new registration system also includes a bar code on registration documents. If you're in an accident or in the unlikely event you get a ticket, law officers will be able to scan the document to get ownership data.

Another change also is in the works.

The DMV is proposing legislation to synchronize snowmobile and boat licenses. That way, you can register them in the same month that you register your vehicle.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to," Hillmer said.

For example, if your license plates expire in August, you can still wait until December to register your snowmobile.

That proposal is in a bill that will get a hearing Tuesday in the House Transportation Committee.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com