(A) Before the Department of Motor Vehicles produces and distributes a special license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive:
(1) four hundred prepaid applications for the special license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the individual or organization seeking issuance of the license plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an individual or organization pursuant to this section, the department must refund the four thousand dollars once an equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for that organization's license plate. If the equivalent amount is not collected within four years of the first issuance of the license plate, then the department shall retain the deposit; and
(2) a plan to market the sale of the special license plate which must be approved by the department.
(B) If the department receives fewer than three hundred biennial applications and renewals for a particular special license plate, it may not produce additional special license plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue special license plates of that series until the existing inventory is exhausted.