N.J. bill would cancel specialty license plates
TRENTON - If you want to tell your fellow drivers you're an animal lover, a fan of the Shore or an organ donor, you might have to say it with a sticker instead of a license plate, under a bill that cleared its first committee in the Legislature yesterday.
TRENTON - If you want to tell your fellow drivers you're an animal lover, a fan of the Shore or an organ donor, you might have to say it with a sticker instead of a license plate, under a bill that cleared its first committee in the Legislature yesterday.
Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski (D., Middlesex) is sponsoring a bill that would allow the Motor Vehicle Commission to stop producing special license plates designed to raise money for various causes.
Under the current system, the MVC is required by law to produce any plates approved by the legislature. But each new design dedicated to a specific cause costs the state $88,000 to produce, and the causes don't receive any money until the state recoups its costs, which can take years. Plates for qualified nonprofit community, alumni or service organizations cost the state about $11,000.
Those figures don't include the costs of storing the license plates or marketing and advertising.
To some, the program does not look like the best use of taxpayer dollars at a time when the state is considering furloughs for workers to cut costs.
"This is an expense that quite frankly is a luxury the state can ill afford at this time," said Wisniewski.
He also thinks the legislature should be concentrating on more pressing issues.
"I'm not sure a proper function of the Legislature is to be on a regular basis considering what should be on license plates," Wisniewski said. "I think we have far more important things to do."
From 10 to 30 organizations seek legislative approval for a specialty plate each year, Wisniewski said. The state has nearly 60 specialty plates, although the Legislature established a moratorium on new plates five years ago at the request of the MVC.
Under Wisniewski's bill, the MVC would produce a generic license plate with a space for a decal. Organizations that wished to be on license plates would seek approval from the MVC, then have the decals manufactured and sell the decals themselves.
People who have the old license plates would be allowed to keep them and the state would sell the existing stock of specialty plates until it runs out.
More than 20 organizations seeking specialty plates have found lawmakers to sponsor bills during the current legislative session. The causes represented include autism awareness, open space preservation, and promoting the career of nursing, as well as various veterans' groups.
Mike Horan, a spokesman for the MVC, said the commission had been working with Wisniewski to craft the bill.
"It's costly for us but also . . . only a handful [of the organizations] really show signs of being able to generate the revenue that they're looking for," Horan said.
Wisniewski's bill was approved, 11-0 with one abstention, and heads to the full Assembly for consideration.
Contact staff writer Adrienne Lu at 609-989-8990 or alu@phillynews.com.
