vehicles 0.6.1 → 0.8.0

data/data/plates/us-la.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,568 @@
+# plates/us-la.yml — Louisiana (PRD-PLATES gate L2, group: southcentral).
+#
+# THE LOUISIANA FIND, and it is the best one in the southcentral group: the
+# Office of Motor Vehicles publishes its ENTIRE POLICY MANUAL, per-policy, as
+# dated PDFs on a public PowerDMS instance, and Section 5 of that manual is
+# "Motor Vehicle License Plate Classifications & Requirements" — 187 numbered
+# policies covering every plate class Louisiana issues, each citing its own
+# authorising Revised Statute, each carrying an effective date and a revision
+# date. That is a primary source of a kind no other state in this group offers:
+# not a brochure, not a FAQ, but the registrar's own operating instructions.
+#
+# TWO CLAIMS IN THIS FILE COME OUT OF THAT MANUAL AND WOULD BE UNSOURCEABLE
+# WITHOUT IT:
+#
+# 1. THE SERIAL ARRANGEMENT, FROM THE NEGATIVE. Policy 21.00 (Personalized
+#    Prestige License Plates, revised 2025-02-14) forbids a vanity plate that
+#    would "Contain a REGULAR PLATE SEQUENCE (i.e. three numbers followed by
+#    three alpha or three alpha followed by three numbers)." The department has
+#    thereby stated, in an instrument, what a regular Louisiana plate looks
+#    like — 999 LLL or LLL 999 — while defining what a vanity plate may not be.
+#    That is the only authority-sourced passenger arrangement in this entire
+#    group other than Texas's prose description of its 2009 base.
+#
+# 2. THE DISPLAY RULE, WITH ITS ODD EXCEPTION. Policy 74.00 (R.S. 47:507) puts
+#    the plate on the rear of a trailer, semi-trailer, MOTORCYCLE, automobile,
+#    pickup, van or other motor vehicle — but lets any truck over 6,000 lb gross
+#    or any dump truck mount EITHER front or rear. Not front-only like a Texas
+#    or Florida truck tractor; either, at the owner's option. That is a third
+#    distinct US answer to the same question and it is in the manual verbatim.
+#
+# THE STATUTE ITSELF WAS UNREACHABLE. legis.la.gov did not resolve and did not
+# connect from this environment on any attempt, and every free reproduction
+# tried (justia, findlaw, onecle, lawserver) 403'd, 404'd or redirect-looped. So
+# the R.S. citations below are the ones the OMV manual gives, quoted as the
+# manual gives them — a registrar citing its own authorising statute is good
+# evidence that the statute says roughly that, and is not the same as reading
+# the statute. Flagged everywhere it matters.
+jurisdiction: us-la
+authority:
+  name: Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV), Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Public Safety Services
+  url: "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv"
+binding: vehicle
+statute_edition: "NONE READ DIRECTLY. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 47 (Revenue and Taxation, ch. 4 — Motor Vehicle License Tax) and Title 32 (Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation) are cited below only as the OMV Policy Manual cites them. legis.la.gov was unresolvable/unreachable throughout this pass."
+policy_manual:
+  name: "Louisiana OMV Policy Manual, Section 5 — Motor Vehicle License Plate Classifications & Requirements"
+  index_url: "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/resources/omv-policy/vehicle-license-plate-classifications-requirements/"
+  host: "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/<id>  # each policy is an individually addressable dated PDF"
+  scale: "187 numbered policies in Section 5, running from 1.00 (Antique License Plates) to 205.00 (Juneteenth Specialty License Plate) — numbering is sparse, so the count and the highest number differ"
+  why_it_matters: "each policy states its authorising R.S. sections, an Effective Date and a Revised Date. Effective dates in Section 5 run from 1973 to 2025, so the manual is also a rough chronology of Louisiana plate policy."
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# artwork_risk — required per jurisdiction by PRD-PLATES §4.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+artwork_risk:
+  posture: copyright-asserted-by-agency
+  basis: >-
+    ADVERSE, AND EXPRESSLY SO. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety's own
+    Terms of Use, verbatim: "The usage of the content, images and logos on the
+    LADPS site by any other website is strictly prohibited by law. The usage of
+    data without the expressed written consent of LADPS is a violation of
+    LOUISIANA COPYRIGHT and other proprietary rights. The misrepresentation via
+    modification of information from this website in any presentation is
+    injudicious and shall be dealt with accordingly to the fullest extent of the
+    law." A further clause restricts unauthorised use of the words "Louisiana
+    Department of Public Safety" or the initials "LADPS" or "any imitation 'in a
+    manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such [activity]...
+    is approved, endorsed, or authorized'". This puts Louisiana alongside Arizona
+    in the US dossier's adverse column — an EXPRESS agency assertion — and one
+    step below Texas, whose assertion is in a statute rather than a website
+    notice.
+  scope_note: >-
+    Read precisely, the LADPS assertion covers the agency's WEBSITE content,
+    images and logos. It is not, on its face, a claim over the plate DESIGN as
+    such — but it is the same agency, the plate images on the site are its
+    images, and the passing-off clause reaches beyond copyright into
+    endorsement. The correct posture is therefore: treat Louisiana plate artwork
+    as claimed, render nothing derived from an LADPS image, and rely only on
+    facts and on the policy manual's TEXTUAL descriptions, which is what this
+    file does throughout.
+  practical_effect: "PRD-PLATES §3's neutral-placeholder default is mandatory. Note the useful asymmetry: Policy 45.00 describes the plate in WORDS ('blue letters and numbers on a white background with the word \"Louisiana\" appearing in script at the top center of the plate in the color of red'). A description of a design is a fact; a copy of a design is not. Every colour and legend claim below is taken from the words, never from an image."
+  emblem_rule: >-
+    Placeholder. The pelican — Louisiana's state bird and the central element of
+    the state's seal and flag — has appeared on Louisiana bases repeatedly, and
+    the reported current base carries a map of Louisiana ringed with eighteen
+    stars. State seal and symbol statutes are a regime independent of copyright
+    and are UNRESEARCHED for Louisiana (recorded gap).
+  sources:
+    - "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/terms-of-use/  # LADPS Terms of Use Policy: the copyright and proprietary-rights assertion, quoted verbatim above, and the LADPS name/initials passing-off clause"
+    - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_subnational_governments_of_the_United_States  # LOCATOR ONLY (PRD-PLATES §4): §105 does not reach the states; Louisiana is not among the states with a favourable rule"
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The US standards chain — recorded once per US file (see us-fl.yml).
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+us_standards:
+  no_federal_mandate: true
+  chain: "SAE J686 -> AAMVA License Plate Standard Edition 3 (September 2025) -> voluntary state adoption; AAMVA has no enforcement power."
+  aamva_edition_3:
+    dimensions_delegated: "AAMVA §3.1 delegates dimensions and bolt holes to SAE J686, whose text is paywalled and UNPINNED; no J686 dimension is quoted anywhere in this dataset."
+    jurisdiction_name_layout: "AAMVA §2.1: the jurisdiction name 'appears in the top center location between the bolt holes'. Louisiana's own Policy 45.00 independently requires 'Louisiana' 'at the top center of the plate' — an unusually direct case of a state's own instrument matching the AAMVA recommendation."
+    replacement_cycle: "AAMVA §1.1 recommends a rolling or full replacement cycle 'not to exceed 7 to 10 years'. LOUISIANA HAS NO REPLACEMENT CYCLE BUT HAS A REGISTRATION PERIOD: Policy 38.00 states 'Private auto license plates are issued for a two (2) year registration period' and 'All automobile plates will be valid for two (2) years ONLY.' Plates are also NOT TRANSFERABLE between owners — 'New metal plates are issued when the vehicle is transferred' — so Louisiana replaces on transfer rather than on a clock."
+    source: "https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/646bcc8a-219b-47d8-b5cd-726240473163/License-Plate-Standard-Edition-3_September-2025-Update.pdf"
+  aamva_relationship_note: "Louisiana OMV is an active AAMVA member and won three 2026 AAMVA awards, which is worth noting only because it makes the voluntary-adoption chain concrete: the state whose plates AAMVA does not govern is the same state that competes in AAMVA's awards programme."
+  folklore_caution: "The '1956 AMA standardization agreement' remains COMMONLY REPEATED, UNSOURCED (PRD-PLATES §4). No Louisiana instrument obtained states plate dimensions at all."
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Display rules — from the OMV Policy Manual, which is the registrar's own
+# operating instruction and states them in full.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+display_rules:
+  default: "ONE plate, REAR. Policy 74.00, verbatim: 'The permanent registration license plates assigned to a trailer, semi-trailer, motorcycle, automobile, pickup truck, van, or other motor vehicle shall be attached to the rear of the vehicle.'"
+  heavy_truck_option: "Policy 74.00, verbatim: 'The permanent registration license plate assigned to any truck having a gross vehicle weight in excess of six thousand pounds or to any dump truck may be attached to EITHER the front or the rear of the vehicle.' Note this is an OPTION, not an inversion — contrast Florida § 320.0706 and Oklahoma § 1113(A)(2), which both force truck tractors to the FRONT. Three states in this dataset, three different heavy-vehicle display rules."
+  mounting: "Policy 74.00: plates 'shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle so as to prevent the plate from swinging and at a height of not less than twelve inches from the ground, measuring from the bottom of the plate. The license plate shall be secured in a place and position so as to be clearly visible and shall be maintained free of foreign materials and in such a condition as to be clearly legible.'"
+  replacement_duty: "Policy 74.00: 'If the license plate becomes damaged or worn to the extent that the identification numbers and letters on the plate are no longer legible, the owner shall contact the Office of Motor Vehicles to secure a replacement license plate upon payment of the appropriate fees.' A legibility duty on the owner, with no periodic cycle behind it."
+  authority: "R.S. 47:507, as cited by Policy 74.00 (effective 2001-08-15, revised 2002-05-06). The statute text itself was not obtainable — see statute_edition."
+  sources:
+    - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370993  # Louisiana OMV Policy 74.00, 'Proper Display of Permanent License Plates', authority R.S. 47:507 — the rear-display rule, the >6,000 lb / dump-truck either-end option, the 12-inch minimum height, the anti-swing and legibility requirements, and the owner's replacement duty"
+    - "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/resources/omv-policy/vehicle-license-plate-classifications-requirements/  # the OMV Policy Manual Section 5 index that publishes Policy 74.00 and the other 186 plate policies"
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Temporary registration — Louisiana kept PAPER, which is the sharpest contrast
+# in this group with Texas, where HB 718 abolished paper temporary tags on
+# 1 July 2025 and replaced them with metal plates.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+temporary_regime:
+  artefact: "PAPER. Policy 6.00 defines a 'Temporary Registration Plate (Temporary Tag or T-Marker)' as 'a temporary vehicle registration that may be issued by a licensed dealer to an ultimate purchaser of eligible types of vehicles, to allow the vehicle to be used on roadways, while awaiting issuance of the permanent license plate.'"
+  validity: "'T-Markers shall be valid for no more than SIXTY (60) DAYS from the date of issuance.'"
+  issuers: "licensed dealers (Policy 6.00) and, separately, lending institutions and auto title companies (Policy 6.01)"
+  one_per_vehicle: "'Dealers may only issue one temporary tag to each vehicle sold, unless approved by the Office of Motor Vehicles.' A second tag is considered only where title transfer is delayed by defective paperwork, must be requested by the original issuing dealer, and is refused where OMV determines the request is being made to avoid registration or fees."
+  database: "every T-Marker must be entered in Louisiana's TEMPORARY TAG DATABASE before the purchaser leaves with the vehicle, and the purchaser gets a receipt evidencing the entry; a Temp Tag Offline Form covers database outages, with entry required as soon as the system is available. Dealers keep temporary-tag records for three years."
+  exclusion: "temporary tags cannot be issued to purchasers of vehicles requiring APPORTIONED plates."
+  serial_format: "NOT PUBLISHED. Policy 6.00 specifies the regime exhaustively and the T-Marker's own serial arrangement not at all. RECORDED GAP — no temporary series is minted rather than have its pattern invented."
+  cross_state_contrast: >-
+    Texas eliminated paper temporary tags outright on 1 July 2025 (HB 718, 88R)
+    after an estimated 1.2 million fraudulent Texas paper tags circulated in
+    2021, and now issues metal plates at the point of sale. Louisiana's answer to
+    the same fraud problem was a mandatory central DATABASE plus a 60-day cap,
+    not a metal plate. Two neighbouring states, the same threat model, opposite
+    remedies — and the plates dataset is one of the few places where that
+    comparison is even visible.
+  authority: "R.S. 47:519-521, as cited by Policy 6.00 (effective 1987-10-16, revised 2024-05-31)"
+  sources:
+    - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/365301  # Louisiana OMV Policy 6.00, 'Temporary Registration Plates (T-Markers) Issued by Dealers', authority R.S. 47:519-521 — the 60-day validity cap, the one-per-vehicle rule and its exception, the Temporary Tag Database and offline form, the three-year record-keeping duty, and the apportioned-vehicle exclusion"
+    - "https://www.txdmv.gov/dealers/HB718  # the Texas comparator: paper tags eliminated 1 July 2025, metal plates issued at sale"
+
+series:
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # THE CURRENT STANDARD-ISSUE SERIES. NOTE THE MODELLING CHOICE: the series
+  # boundary is drawn at the FORMAT change, not at the base-design change,
+  # because the format has an authority source and the design dates do not.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-standard
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 2016 }
+    period_evidence: locator-unconfirmed
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "999 LLL"
+      regex: '\A\d{3} ?[A-Z]{3}\z'
+      serial_basis: authority-stated-negatively
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          SOURCED FROM THE PROHIBITION, WHICH IS THE ONLY PLACE LOUISIANA STATES
+          IT. OMV Policy 21.00 (Personalized Prestige License Plates, revised
+          2025-02-14) lists among the things a vanity plate may NOT do: "Contain
+          a regular plate sequence (i.e. THREE NUMBERS FOLLOWED BY THREE ALPHA OR
+          THREE ALPHA FOLLOWED BY THREE NUMBERS)." The department is defining the
+          regular passenger arrangement in order to reserve it, and in doing so
+          states it. Both orders are named; the numeric-first order is the one
+          currently issued.
+        excluded_reported: ["Q", "U"]
+        excluded_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+        excluded_note: "the Q and U series of serials are reported unused on the 2005-2011 base (locator). Not promoted to a regex_strict — Louisiana publishes no alphabet."
+      progression: "reported 100 AAA onward from May 2016, reaching approximately 799 HUK by the end of 2024 and continuing 100 HUL to 371 JCY as of 2025-03-31 on the successor base (locator). The sequence therefore RUNS THROUGH the base change, so the base cannot be inferred from the serial — the same trap Oklahoma sets."
+      pattern_note: "the separator is the printed GAP between the numeral group and the letter group; Policy 45.00 prescribes layout in words but no separator glyph, so the space is written per the §2.6 emitted set and the regex makes it optional."
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      plate_dimension_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      plate_dimension_note: "no Louisiana instrument obtained states dimensions; 12 x 6 in is the North American convention (AAMVA -> SAE J686, unpinned)."
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      colour_note: >-
+        DESCRIBED FROM THE POLICY, NOT FROM AN IMAGE, and therefore stated as
+        colour NAMES with no hex. Policy 45.00 ("Uniform License Plates", R.S.
+        47:463(3) and Senate Concurrent Resolution 196), Category #1, verbatim:
+        the plates "contain the color scheme of BLUE letters and numbers on a
+        WHITE background with the word 'Louisiana' appearing in script at the top
+        center of the plate in the color of RED and the words 'Sportsman's
+        Paradise' appearing in BLUE block letters centered at the bottom of the
+        plate." No hex is asserted because the policy states no value, and
+        because deriving one from an LADPS image would run straight into the
+        artwork_risk assertion above.
+      legend_top: "Louisiana"
+      legend_top_style: "script, red, top centre (Policy 45.00)"
+      legend_bottom: "Sportsman's Paradise"
+      legend_bottom_style: "blue block letters, centred (Policy 45.00)"
+      graphic: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "base graphic varies by issue — see base_designs; not reproduced" }
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    base_designs:
+      basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      note: >-
+        THE DESIGN TIMELINE IS RECORDED HERE RATHER THAN AS SERIES BOUNDARIES,
+        DELIBERATELY. Louisiana changed base graphics inside this one serial
+        arrangement, and none of those changes could be tied to a Louisiana
+        instrument in this pass. Minting dated series ids on unsourced design
+        boundaries would mean aliasing them later under the PRD-QUALITY I-5/I-6
+        id contract; recording them as dated design variants under one
+        format-defined series costs nothing and claims nothing false. Compare
+        us-fl-standard, whose id is undated for exactly the same reason.
+      designs:
+        - period: { start: 2016, end: 2024 }
+          description: "the 2005-2011 base continued: embossed black serial on a reflective white, yellow and pink gradient field with a black border line, a pelican graphic screened in the centre, 'Louisiana' in red handwritten script at the top and 'Sportsman's Paradise' in red at the bottom, offset left"
+        - period: { start: 2025 }
+          description: "reported from 1 January 2025: embossed dark blue serial on reflective white with a border line, eighteen stars circled around a map of Louisiana on a red ground with an America 250 logo below, 'LOUISIANA' in red at the top and 'Sportsman's Paradise' at the bottom"
+          caveat: "LOCATOR ONLY. No OMV alert, press release or policy revision announcing this base was located; the OMV alerts feed reachable in this pass begins in 2026. If a verifier finds the announcement, this becomes a series in its own right."
+    registration_period: "TWO YEARS. Policy 38.00 (Automobile License Plates, authority R.S. 47:463(A)): 'Private auto license plates are issued for a two (2) year registration period and are not transferable between owners' and 'All automobile plates will be valid for two (2) years ONLY.'"
+    tax_basis: "Louisiana's registration licence tax is AD VALOREM, which is unusual: Policy 38.00 sets 'a minimum of $10.00 per year up to the first $10,000 value plus $1.00 per thousand-dollar value in excess of $10,000', with 'actual value' defined as the higher of the bill-of-sale price or the NADA full loan value, fixed at first registration and held constant until ownership changes. Recorded because a value-based plate tax is a real reason a state resists frequent reissues."
+    region_encoding: none
+    region_encoding_note: >-
+      NONE TODAY, BUT LOUISIANA HAD ONE AND IT WAS NOT COUNTY-BASED. The
+      1989-1993 base is reported to have carried a letter in the middle of the
+      serial (123A456) where "Letter corresponds to STATE POLICE TROOP AREA of
+      issue" — a policing geography rather than a civil one, and the last
+      Louisiana base to encode any geography at all (locator). Worth flagging as
+      an L4 decode candidate precisely because troop areas are not parishes and
+      a naive decode table would map it wrong.
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366665  # Louisiana OMV Policy 21.00, 'Personalized Prestige License Plates' (revised 2025-02-14), authority R.S. 47:462 and 47:463.2 — the prohibition on vanity plates containing 'a regular plate sequence (i.e. three numbers followed by three alpha or three alpha followed by three numbers)', which is the department's own statement of the regular passenger arrangement"
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370991  # Louisiana OMV Policy 45.00, 'Uniform License Plates', authority R.S. 47:463(3) and Senate Concurrent Resolution 196 — the Category #1 colour scheme: blue letters and numbers on white, 'Louisiana' in red script at top centre, 'Sportsman's Paradise' in blue block letters at bottom"
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366583  # Louisiana OMV Policy 38.00, 'Automobile License Plates', authority R.S. 47:463(A) — eligibility for the passenger class, the two-year registration period, non-transferability between owners, and the ad valorem licence tax"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Louisiana  # LOCATOR ONLY (PRD-PLATES §4): the May 2016 change from ABC 123 to 123 ABC, the 100 AAA to 799 HUK and 100 HUL to 371 JCY ranges, the 2005-2011 and reported 2025 base designs, the Q/U exclusions, and the 1989-1993 State Police troop-area letter. None asserted as sourced."
+    notes: >-
+      LOUISIANA CURRENT ISSUE, KEYED TO THE FORMAT. The choice worth defending
+      explicitly: this series starts in 2016 at the arrangement change, not in
+      2025 at the reported base change, because the arrangement has an authority
+      source (Policy 21.00's prohibition) and a fifteen-year run behind it, while
+      the 2025 base has only a locator. The reported America 250 base is recorded
+      in `base_designs` with its caveat, where it can be promoted to a series the
+      moment an OMV instrument surfaces. Also note what Louisiana does NOT have:
+      no replacement cycle at all, but a two-year registration period, plates
+      that die with the owner rather than transfer, and an ad valorem tax — a
+      combination that churns plates through transfer rather than through age.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # ONE SERIES BACK — the alpha-first arrangement, the "Lipstick" base and its
+  # successors, 1993 to 2016.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-standard-lll999
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1993, end: 2016 }
+    period_evidence: locator-unconfirmed
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{3}\z'
+      serial_basis: authority-stated-negatively
+      charset: { notes: "the OTHER order named in Policy 21.00's 'regular plate sequence' prohibition — 'three alpha followed by three numbers'. The department reserves both orders from vanity use, which is why both are sourceable from the same instrument." }
+      progression: "reported AAA 000 to approximately KLK 999 on the 1993-2001 issue, then continuing through KLL 000, MSP 000, NFV 000, VCT000, WUH 000, XSA000 and ZPD 000 to ZZZ 999 across successive bases until the arrangement exhausted in May 2016 (locator)"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      plate_dimension_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      colour_note: >-
+        Policy 45.00's uniform scheme (blue on white, red script 'Louisiana' at
+        top centre, blue block 'Sportsman's Paradise' at bottom) was adopted
+        1993-08-02 and revised 1994-12-27, which places its effective date at the
+        START of this series — so this is the arrangement the uniform-plate
+        policy was actually written for. Later bases inside the same arrangement
+        are reported to have departed from it (a 2005 black-on-gradient issue, a
+        2011 bicentennial issue, a 2014 Battle of New Orleans issue), which is
+        itself evidence that a 1994-revised policy has not tracked practice.
+      legend_top: "Louisiana"
+      legend_bottom: "Sportsman's Paradise"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      rear_differs: false
+    base_designs:
+      basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      note: "at least six distinct bases are reported inside this one arrangement, including three explicitly LIMITED-RUN commemoratives — Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial (2002-2004), Louisiana Bicentennial '200 YEARS' (2011-2012) and Battle of New Orleans Bicentennial (2014-2015) — interleaved with ordinary issues. Louisiana runs commemorative GENERAL ISSUES rather than optional specialty designs, which is unusual and which makes base-to-date inference in Louisiana unusually rich and unusually unsourced."
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366665  # Policy 21.00: 'three alpha followed by three numbers' named as a regular plate sequence reserved from vanity use"
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370991  # Policy 45.00, effective 1993-08-02, revised 1994-12-27 — the uniform colour and legend scheme adopted at the start of this series under R.S. 47:463(3) and SCR 196"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Louisiana  # LOCATOR ONLY: the 1993 'Lipstick' base and the AAA 000 to ZZZ 999 progression through the successive bases and commemoratives listed above"
+    notes: >-
+      THE ALPHA-FIRST ERA, 1993-2016. Recorded as one series across six reported
+      bases for the same reason the current series is recorded across two: the
+      arrangement is sourceable and the base dates are not. The Louisiana pattern
+      that emerges from both entries is worth stating once — this is a state that
+      changes its PICTURE often and its NUMBER SHAPE almost never, so any
+      Louisiana dating heuristic must key on the base and any Louisiana
+      VALIDATION heuristic must key on the arrangement, and the two answers point
+      in opposite directions.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # MOTORCYCLE — its own numbering space, its own four-year registration.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-motorcycle
+    class: motorcycle
+    categories: [motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 1995 }
+    period_evidence: locator-unconfirmed
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "999999"
+      regex: '\A\d{1,6}\z'
+      serial_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      charset: { notes: "all-numeric, reported six digits. No Louisiana instrument stating the arrangement was obtained — Policy 153.00 specifies eligibility, fees and registration period but not the serial. The unbounded-below quantifier makes no width claim." }
+    design:
+      plate: { unit: in, note: "reduced motorcycle size; no dimension obtained from any Louisiana source" }
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      colour_note: "reported as the 1993-2001 passenger base treatment with 'MC' embossed at the bottom in place of the slogan (locator). No hex asserted."
+      legend_bottom: "MC"
+      legend_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      rear_differs: false
+    definition: "Policy 153.00, verbatim: 'Motorcycle - Every motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, but excluding a tractor and excluding a motorized bicycle.' Note the THREE-WHEEL inclusion — a Louisiana motorcycle plate is correct on a trike."
+    registration_period: "FOUR YEARS. Policy 153.00: 'Motorcycle plates have a four (4) year registration period', at $12.00 ($3.00 per year). And, unlike passenger plates, 'Motorcycle plates ARE transferable between owners' — the direct opposite of Policy 38.00's rule for automobiles."
+    authority: "R.S. 32:781, R.S. 47:451, R.S. 47:465 and R.S. 32:1, as cited by Policy 153.00 (effective 2013-12-04, revised 2014-05-30)"
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366103  # Louisiana OMV Policy 153.00, 'Motorcycle Plates', authority R.S. 32:781, 47:451, 47:465, 32:1 — the three-wheel motorcycle definition, the four-year registration period, the $12 fee, and the transferability rule that inverts the passenger rule"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Louisiana  # LOCATOR ONLY: the all-numeric six-digit arrangement and the 'MC' bottom legend from c. 1995"
+    notes: >-
+      LOUISIANA MOTORCYCLE. The two facts worth having are both from the policy
+      and neither is about the number: a Louisiana motorcycle plate is lawful on
+      a three-wheeler, and motorcycle plates transfer between owners while
+      automobile plates do not. That transferability asymmetry means a Louisiana
+      motorcycle plate can outlive several owners and several vehicles, so plate
+      identity and vehicle identity come apart on exactly one class — a fact a
+      vehicle-keyed consumer will get wrong unless it is written down.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # DEALER — Louisiana calls them DEALER INVENTORY plates, and licenses new and
+  # used dealers through two different commissions.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-dealer
+    class: dealer
+    categories: [car, van, truck, motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 2012 }
+    period_evidence: locator-unconfirmed
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LL99999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{2} ?\d{5,6}\z'
+      serial_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      charset: { notes: "reported DI-prefixed, five digits, continuing into a six-digit block after DI99999 (locator). Policy 5.00 governs issuance, allocation, renewal, loss and theft in detail and states no serial arrangement." }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      plate_dimension_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      colour_note: "reported from c. 2012 as embossed black on YELLOW with a border line, 'LOUISIANA' at the top and 'DEALER' at the bottom — a colour break from the uniform blue-on-white scheme, consistent with Policy 45.00, which does NOT list dealer plates in its Category #1 or #2 uniform lists under R.S. 47:473 alone. No hex asserted."
+      legend_top: "LOUISIANA"
+      legend_bottom: "DEALER"
+      emblem: { present: false }
+      rear_differs: false
+    binding: business
+    binding_note: "`binding: business` for the same reason as Germany's rote Kennzeichen and Florida's dealer plate: the plate follows the dealership's inventory, not a vehicle."
+    licensing_split: "Policy 5.00 distinguishes NEW motor vehicle dealers, licensed by the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission, from USED motor vehicle dealers, licensed by the Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission, and applies different documentary requirements to each (used dealers must show at least $55,000 of garage liability cover). Two regulators, one plate class."
+    fee: "$15.00 per plate (Policy 5.00)"
+    authority: "R.S. 47:473, as cited by Policy 5.00 (effective 1983-09-01, revised 2021-05-04). Policy 45.00 separately lists R.S. 47:473 'Dealer Plates (Motorcycle, XPOW)', R.S. 47:473.1 'Personalized Dealer' and R.S. 47:473.2 'Handicapped Dealer/Commercial Plates' — so Louisiana statutorily subdivides the dealer class three ways."
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370971  # Louisiana OMV Policy 5.00, 'Dealer Inventory Plates', authority R.S. 47:473 — the LMVC/LUMVC licensing split, the $15 per-plate fee, the application form DPSMV1640, and the lost/stolen plate procedure"
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370991  # Policy 45.00 Category #2: R.S. 47:473 dealer plates, 47:473.1 personalized dealer, 47:473.2 handicapped dealer/commercial — the statutory three-way subdivision of the dealer class"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Louisiana  # LOCATOR ONLY: the DI prefix, the five-to-six digit rollover, and the black-on-yellow c. 2012 treatment"
+    notes: >-
+      LOUISIANA DEALER INVENTORY PLATES. The class is thoroughly sourced by the
+      policy and the format is not, which is the recurring shape of this file.
+      Worth carrying forward: Louisiana runs new-car and used-car dealer
+      licensing through two separate commissions but issues them the same plate
+      class, and it maintains a PERSONALIZED DEALER plate (R.S. 47:473.1) whose
+      configurations Policy 21.00 expressly deconflicts against ordinary vanity
+      plates — 'Identical personalized prestige plates cannot be issued,
+      INCLUDING personalized prestige plates with the character configuration
+      already on a personalized dealer plate.' Two vanity namespaces sharing one
+      uniqueness constraint is a genuinely unusual registry design.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # TRAILER — Louisiana classifies trailers seven ways and prices the plate by
+  # class, with a permanent option that can never be transferred.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-trailer
+    class: trailer
+    categories: [trailer]
+    period: { start: 1993 }
+    period_evidence: locator-unconfirmed
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "L999999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z] ?\d{6}\z'
+      serial_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      charset: { notes: "a single letter prefix and six digits; D and K prefixes are reported on boat trailers (locator). Policy 19.00 governs the class scheme in full and states no serial arrangement." }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      plate_dimension_basis: locator-unconfirmed
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      colour_note: "reported as the 1993-2001 passenger base with the trailer class name embossed in place of the slogan (locator). No hex asserted."
+      emblem: { present: false }
+      rear_differs: false
+    class_scheme:
+      note: "Policy 19.00 defines SEVEN trailer categories, and the category determines the class of plate issued and its expiry — Louisiana prices and dates the plate from the trailer's kind and weight, which is the closest thing to weight-class encoding in this state."
+      categories:
+        - { name: "Boat Trailer", definition: "noncommercial, used solely and exclusively for transporting pleasure watercraft, loaded gross weight not more than 1,500 lb" }
+        - { name: "Farm Trailer / Farm Semi-Trailer", definition: "owned by persons actually farming and used exclusively to carry own-farm produce to market and goods back" }
+        - { name: "Light-Trailer", definition: "loaded gross weight not more than 500 lb" }
+        - { name: "Mobile Home", definition: "trailer or semitrailer designed and equipped as a dwelling place, or whose shell is so designed but is used for advertising, sales, display or promotion" }
+        - { name: "Semi-Trailer", definition: "no motive power, part of its own weight and load carried by the towing vehicle, one or more load-carrying axles" }
+        - { name: "Trailer", definition: "no motive power, carries its load wholly on its own structure, two or more load-carrying axles" }
+        - { name: "Travel Trailer / Camper Trailer", definition: "designed and equipped as a dwelling place and for use as a highway conveyance" }
+      thresholds: "an IDENTIFICATION TRAILER PLATE must be issued once a semi-trailer exceeds 500 lb gross, a boat trailer 1,500 lb gross (trailer plus boat plus motor), or a farm trailer 6,000 lb gross. Policy 19.00 also records that a TOW DOLLY is not a trailer and cannot be registered at all."
+      terms: "an identification plate may be bought for one year, four years, or PERMANENT (lifetime). One-year and four-year plates transfer to a new owner; 'The permanent trailer license plate CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED FOR ANY REASON' and must be surrendered to OMV when the owner's interest ends, with no refund."
+      dead_class: "'Apportioned trailer license plates are no longer issued in Louisiana (effective January 1, 2002)' — a dated, authority-stated discontinuation, and one of the few in this group that comes with its own effective date."
+    authority: "R.S. 32:1, 47:451, 47:462(B)(1), 47:462(B)(2)(c), 47:463.5, 47:479(6) and 47:501, as cited by Policy 19.00 (effective 1986-05-01, revised 2018-09-13)"
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366669  # Louisiana OMV Policy 19.00, 'Trailer - Classes of License Plates' — the seven trailer categories and their definitions, the 500/1,500/6,000 lb identification-plate thresholds, the tow-dolly exclusion, the one-year/four-year/permanent terms and their transfer rules, the pro-rata refund in $10 increments, and the 1 January 2002 end of apportioned trailer plates"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Louisiana  # LOCATOR ONLY: the D and K boat-trailer prefixes and the six-digit arrangement"
+    notes: >-
+      LOUISIANA TRAILER PLATES. Included because L2 names trailer as a core class
+      and because Louisiana's treatment is the richest of the four states here:
+      seven statutory categories, three weight thresholds, three registration
+      terms and a permanent plate that is non-transferable by rule. The class
+      scheme is fully sourced and the serial arrangement is not, so the scheme is
+      recorded as data and the arrangement as a flagged guess. The 2002 end of
+      apportioned trailer plates is exactly the kind of dated discontinuation
+      PRD-PLATES's `ended: true` semantics exist for, and is recorded here rather
+      than minted as a series because no format for the dead class was obtained.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # PERSONALIZED PRESTIGE — the best-specified vanity charset in the group, and
+  # it comes from a policy revised five months before this pass.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-personalized
+    class: personalized
+    categories: [car, van, truck, motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 1973 }
+    period_evidence: instrument-in-force-upper-bound
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLLLLLL"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z0-9](?:[- ]?[A-Z0-9]){0,6}\z'
+      serial_basis: authority-stated
+      charset:
+        max_characters: 7
+        max_characters_motorcycle_or_handicap: 6
+        allowed:
+          - "letters A to Z, and the configuration MUST CONTAIN AT LEAST TWO LETTERS"
+          - "numbers 0 to 9"
+          - "spaces, or two half spaces, counting as one of the seven characters"
+          - "periods, counting as one space on the plate"
+          - "hyphens, counting as one space on the plate"
+        forbidden:
+          - "more than seven characters"
+          - "two alpha characters used as a prefix followed by numbers"
+          - "a regular plate sequence — three numbers followed by three alpha, or three alpha followed by three numbers"
+          - "the prefixes LSP, DPS, OMV, NOLA, HQ, SP or LA, and the prefix TS"
+          - "special symbols such as #, @, %, & etc."
+          - "a patented logo"
+          - "the number 1 substituted for the letter I, or the number 0 for the letter O"
+          - "ethnic, racial, vulgar or indecent connotations which may be offensive to good taste and decency"
+          - "amateur radio call signs (which have their own plate class under R.S. 47:463.3)"
+        uniqueness: "'Identical personalized prestige plates cannot be issued, including personalized prestige plates with the character configuration already on a personalized dealer plate' — the vanity namespace is shared with the dealer vanity namespace."
+        notes: >-
+          THIS IS THE ONLY FULLY AUTHORITY-STATED CHARSET IN THE SOUTHCENTRAL
+          GROUP. It is deliberately NOT compiled into a `regex_strict`: several
+          of the rules are semantic rather than lexical (offensiveness, patented
+          logos, call signs), the separator-handling rules interact with §2.6 in
+          a way that would need its own decision (Louisiana counts a hyphen as a
+          consumed CHARACTER, where this dataset treats hyphens as separators
+          outside the serial alphabet), and a partial strict twin would claim
+          more precision than the data supports. The rules are recorded as
+          structured data so a consumer can implement them explicitly.
+      separator_conflict_note: >-
+        WORTH A MAINTAINER DECISION. Louisiana permits a hyphen or a period
+        INSIDE a personalized configuration and counts it against the
+        seven-character budget, which means the glyph is part of the customer's
+        chosen string rather than a group separator. Under PRD-PLATES §2.6 rule 3
+        a jurisdiction that prints a glyph inside a serial is "a schema
+        amendment, not a data entry". This is arguably the first such case in the
+        dataset — although it applies only to owner-chosen configurations, not to
+        department-assigned serials, which may be a distinction the separator
+        contract wants to draw explicitly. Flagged, not resolved here.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      note: "Policy 45.00 lists R.S. 47:463.2 personalized prestige plates in its Category #2 uniform group, so the vanity plate carries the standard blue-on-white scheme with its own bottom legend rather than a distinct design"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+    eligibility: "Policy 21.00: 'Personalized prestige plates may be issued to automobiles, private trucks (up to 16,000 lbs.), vans, and motor homes.' Issued first come, first served."
+    fee: "$25.00 per year for a configuration of more than one character; $250.00 per year for a SINGLE ALPHA CHARACTER plate — a ten-fold premium on one-letter plates, echoing the Delaware low-number market the US dossier records, but priced by the state rather than by a secondary market."
+    authority: "R.S. 47:462 and R.S. 47:463.2, as cited by Policy 21.00 (effective 1973-06-19, revised 2025-02-14)"
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/366665  # Louisiana OMV Policy 21.00, 'Personalized Prestige License Plates' (revised 2025-02-14), authority R.S. 47:462 and 47:463.2 — the complete allowed/not-allowed table quoted above, the seven-character cap and the six-character motorcycle/handicap cap, the reserved prefixes, the shared uniqueness constraint with personalized dealer plates, the eligibility list, and the $25/$250 fee split"
+    notes: >-
+      LOUISIANA PERSONALIZED PRESTIGE. `period.start: 1973` is Policy 21.00's own
+      stated Effective Date of 19 June 1973 — an instrument-in-force date and
+      therefore an UPPER BOUND on the true start of the class, though a
+      remarkably early one and almost certainly close. The reserved-prefix list
+      is the sort of detail that only ever appears in an operating manual and
+      never in a statute or a brochure: LSP (Louisiana State Police), DPS, OMV,
+      NOLA, HQ, SP, TS and LA are all unavailable to the public, which is a small
+      but real piece of the state's namespace policy. And the $250 single-letter
+      fee is the state pricing what Delaware lets the market price.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # SPECIALTY — THE PROGRAM INDEX ONLY, per PRD-PLATES §2.5.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: us-la-specialty-index
+    class: specialty
+    categories: [car, van, truck, motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 2016 }
+    period_evidence: instrument-in-force-upper-bound
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "999 LLL"
+      regex: '\A\d{3} ?[A-Z]{3}\z'
+      serial_basis: authority-stated-negatively
+      charset: { notes: "specialty plates carry ordinary department-assigned serials on an alternative design unless personalized; Policy 45.00's Category #2 keeps most of them inside the uniform colour scheme with only the bottom legend changing, so a Louisiana specialty plate is usually a LEGEND variant rather than a full redesign." }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in }
+      background: { finish: retroreflective }
+      note: "one design per authorised program; individual designs are L4 scope (PRD-PLATES §2.5) and none is described here"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+    program_index:
+      count_policies: 187
+      count_basis: authority-enumerated
+      count_method: >-
+        COUNTED FROM THE OMV POLICY MANUAL'S OWN SECTION 5 INDEX: 187 numbered
+        policies, numbered sparsely from 1.00 to 205.00 (fetched 2026-08-02).
+        This is a count of PLATE POLICIES, not of specialty programs — the same
+        index also covers the passenger class, trailers, dealers, temporary tags,
+        display rules and sticker inventory. The great majority of entries above
+        number 40.00 are individual specialty programs, but the boundary is a
+        judgement call and no cleaner official figure was located, so the raw
+        policy count is published with its definition rather than a tidied number
+        with none.
+      structure_note: >-
+        LOUISIANA'S SPECIALTY CATALOGUE IS LEGISLATED ONE PLATE AT A TIME, like
+        Texas and unlike Florida. Policy 45.00's Category #2 list alone maps
+        thirty-odd named plate types to their own R.S. sections (47:463.3 ham
+        radio, 47:463.8 antique, 47:463.10 National Guard, 47:463.12 street rod,
+        47:463.13 Congressional Medal of Honor, 47:463.26 Purple Heart,
+        47:463.33 street cruiser, 47:463.36 clergy, and so on). Because each is
+        an edict of government, the Louisiana specialty catalogue is enumerable
+        from statute — which is the right route for an L4 pass, and is available
+        even though the statute text itself was unreachable here.
+      exempt_from_uniform_scheme: "Policy 45.00 Category #3 names the three classes NOT subject to the uniform plate law: R.S. 47:463.14 Farhad Grotto, R.S. 47:463.31 University, and R.S. 47:511 Apportioned. A three-item exception list is itself a useful fact — everything else Louisiana issues is blue-on-white by policy."
+      official_list_url: "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/vehicles/plates/special-personalized-plates/"
+      official_viewer: "OMV publishes a 'Specialty Plates Viewer' from that page, described as letting an applicant 'view available plate options and submit your request online for OMV processing'; it is a JavaScript application and returned no enumerable catalogue to a fetcher (recorded gap)."
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/resources/omv-policy/vehicle-license-plate-classifications-requirements/  # the OMV Policy Manual Section 5 index — 187 numbered plate policies from 1.00 to 205.00, each linking to its own dated PDF; the count claim"
+      - "https://public.powerdms.com/ladpsc/documents/370991  # Policy 45.00 — the Category #1/#2/#3 tables mapping named plate types to their authorising R.S. sections, and the three-class exemption from the uniform scheme"
+      - "https://expresslane.la.gov/omv/vehicles/plates/special-personalized-plates/  # OMV: 'Louisiana offers a wide variety of specialty license plates, as well as your choice of a personalized plate'; the Specialty Plates Viewer; the Specialized Vehicle Unit contact"
+    notes: >-
+      THE LOUISIANA SPECIALTY INDEX. The count published here is deliberately the
+      raw one — 187 numbered plate policies — with an explicit statement of what
+      it counts, rather than a cleaner "roughly 150 specialty programs" that
+      would be a guess wearing a number's clothes. The structurally interesting
+      finding is that Louisiana, like Texas and unlike Florida, authorises
+      specialty plates ONE STATUTE AT A TIME, so its catalogue is recoverable
+      from edicts of government even where the agency's own viewer is
+      unfetchable. That is the route for L4, and it sidesteps the artwork_risk
+      assertion entirely, because a statute naming a plate is public domain no
+      matter what LADPS says about its website.