Idaho Senate passes bill to do away with new specialty license plates after this year - Michael Towner

​The Senate has voted 34-0 in favor of Sen. Patti Anne Lodge’s bill to stop approving new specialty license plates after this year unless they’re for state entities, and to phase out existing specialty plates if they don’t meet specified sales targets. “Usually you have to pay to advertise your cause,” Lodge said, saying Idaho has too many specialty plates.
Current Idaho specialty plates range from the Appaloosa and bluebird plates to snow skier plates and whitewater rafting plates. Specialty plates are optional and come with extra fees to cover both the cost of producing them, and donations to the cause in question, from the Idaho Department of Fish & Game to 4-H.

​Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, spoke out in favor of Lodge’s bill, SB 1349a. “This stops doing new specialty plates,” he said. “That’s something that’s a bit of an annoying thing that we keep adding more of.”
This year, one new specialty license plate already has passed both houses, the “Choose Life” plate, and a “Too Great for Hate” specialty plate, to benefit the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, has passed the Senate and is awaiting a hearing in the House. Lodge's bill now moves to the House.