UPDATE January 4, 2021: Bill died in chamber
UPDATE August 13, 2020: Action on the bill is postponed indefinitely.
UPDATE January 8, 2020: Title printed, bill carried over to 2020 session.
Legislative Bill 38 was introduced on January 10, 2019 and subsequently was referred to the Legislative Transportation & Telecommunications committee.
The bill would require a single license plate per vehicle rather than the current dual license plate (front and back) standard. There are many reasons for supporting a single license plate standard. Among them:
- The front license plate is redundant and unnecessary.
- 19 states have already eliminated the front license plate
- No state has switched from one plate to two plates in several decades and it is easy to understand why: drivers don’t want to drill holes into the front bumpers of their cars to accommodate an additional plate
- Requiring one rather than two plates is a revenue-saving measure for the state
- Important safety technology such as proximity and traffic sensors are present on the front bumpers of modern cars, which impede and can be damaged by attempts to install a front plate
- It would conserve non-renewable natural resources (aluminum and fuel)
- One less plate per vehicle means less opportunity for automatic license plate readers used by for-profit data collectors to identify motorists and track their movements