1. (a) The owner shall not be responsible for payment of the civil fine resulting from a notice of violation if each of the following conditions apply:

   1. (1) The vehicle was operated at the time of the violation by a person who was not the owner or an agent or employee of the owner.
   2. (2) The owner signs and timely transmits to the governing body on the form provided with the notice of violation and in accordance with the procedure set out on the notice of violation a statement that he or she was not operating the vehicle at the time of the violation, and that the person who was operating the vehicle was not the agent or employee of the owner.
   3. (3) The owner timely transmits to the governing body on the form provided with the notice of violation and in accordance with the procedure set out on the notice of violation the name and mailing address of the person who was operating the vehicle.
   4. (4) The civil fine is paid by any person, unless there is adjudication that no violation occurred or there is otherwise a lawful determination that no civil penalty shall be imposed.

2. (b) Whenever a county or municipality timely receives the information required from the owner to transfer responsibility, the county, municipality, or its contractor shall issue a new notice of violation to the person to whom the owner transferred responsibility with an explanation as to why the person is receiving the notice of violation, in the same manner as if the person were the owner of the vehicle. The person shall be responsible for payment of the civil fine unless the person either:

   1. (1) Timely returns a signed statement on a form provided with the notice of violation that he or she was not the operator and declining responsibility, in which case responsibility shall fall back to the owner.
   2. (2) Admits to being the operator but denies committing a violation, in which case the person may contest the notice of violation in the same manner as the owner may contest the notice of violation.
3. (c) In cases in which a person other than the owner denies he or she was the operator and declines responsibility, a new notice shall be issued to the owner stating that the other person declined responsibility and giving the owner the option of paying the civil fine or contesting the violation by a stated date that shall be not less than 20 days from the mailing of the new notice. The owner may not attempt to transfer responsibility more than one time using this procedure. If the owner chooses to contest the notice of violation after the owner has unsuccessfully attempted to transfer responsibility using this procedure, and the owner claims in defense that another person was the operator of the vehicle, the court may take appropriate action to cause the owner and the other person to appear at the same hearing to determine responsibility.

(Act 2016-166, §6.)