Johnson County During session, specialty license plates were a big topic of conversation. The last time you visited your local BMV, you may have noticed all the many different specialty license plates the state offers to Hoosier drivers. We have plates from various universities, military branches and organizations. We use the specialty plate program as a fundraising tool for nonprofits. It allows Hoosier motorists to pay $40 for plates. Fifteen dollars goes to the state to cover administrative costs, and an extra $25 of which goes to those organizations. However, the questions “should the state be in the license plate business” and “where should we draw the line as to what organizations can participate” were raised. You may have heard about the discussion on the news or read about it in the paper. The House Roads and Transportation Committee discussed these issues. They members considered pulling the specialty plates from nearly three dozen organizations that sold fewer than 1,000 plates in 2001. For example, one of the organizations they considered pulling was the Youth Group organization. In 2012, the first year that group’s plates have been offered, it sold just over 600 plates. However, the House committee ended up deciding to send the issue to a summer study committee. The Indiana Youth Group is a non-profit organization for LBGT youth. Conservative activists and state legislators—such as me—feel that this type of organization should not have been a specialty license plate due to the controversy surrounding it. This brings me back to what the House committee discussed in saying if the state should be involved in the specialty license plate business, and if so, where do we draw the line? Personally, I don’t feel that the state should be responsible for offering benefits through a license plate for an organization that may offend others. Whether or not that was their intention, I don’t feel that it is the state’s business to begin with. If we let every organization out there—offensive or not, conservative or liberal, religious or racial—to have the opportunity for a specialty license plate, think about the organizations that will attract. The state would have to appear in support of these organizations because the state would be providing them benefits through the specialty license plate business. |
