Specialty license plates cater to many interests

Saturday, September 1, 2007 4:13 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD -- They’re kind of like a more expensive, more durable bumper sticker. Every year, lawmakers approve a bevy of specialty license plates drivers can opt for instead of the Land of Lincoln standards.

Having one will cost you more and, even if lawmakers approve them, the plates don’t even go into production unless hundreds of people ask for them.

Nevertheless, new specialty plates pop up every year.

This year lawmakers voted for more than a dozen bills to create new plates for various groups — sheet metal workers, autism advocates and Iraq war veterans, for example.

State Sen. John Jones, R-Mount Vernon, sponsored a new plate this year for veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He said the idea came from a veteran who had seen license plates for other causes and asked one simple question: “Why can’t we have one?”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the bill into law last week. The specialty plates are pricier, but a majority of the extra cost often goes to a special state fund to help the groups the plates represent.

A typical license plate costs $78, and a specialty one could tack on about $40. Often, about $25 of that would go to a special fund.

Not everyone likes specialty plates.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, said he has voted against every one since the mid-1990s. There are 60 in production now, according to Secretary of State Jesse White’s office.

Now, 800 people have to ask for a plate before it can be produced, but White’s office wants to raise that threshold to 1,500 soon, according to spokesman Henry Haupt.

Rutherford agrees that supporting the causes are a good idea, but argues for a different way of handling the idea: It calls for one standard charitable plate, with a special sticker that could be affixed to it to represent the particular cause.

He argues that method would prevent police officers from having to squint to decipher what kind of plate a driver has, occasionally making mistakes.

“It’s become so silly because I know there’s a way to address it,” he said.

Unlike Rutherford, lawmakers often put up little opposition to new ideas for specialty plates.

State Rep. Bob Flider’s idea this year had some trouble, though.

The Mount Zion Democrat wanted to create a license plate especially for NASCAR fans. But he ran into trouble from lawmakers who thought it was a bad idea for the state to endorse a private company in such a way.

The plan was defeated on the House floor in March by lawmakers who Flider claims were over-thinking the plan. He said he’ll try again.

“I’ve been contacted by NASCAR enthusiasts asking about when the plates will be available,” he said.

A pick of plates

Here is a sampling of some of the groups represented by specialty Illinois license plates approved this year:

• Rotary Club

• Special Olympics

• Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans

• Disabled veterans

• Sheet metal workers

• Illinois PGA Junior Golf