Specialty License Plates

Training for: Legal Notes

Every now and then we need a break from the more serious side of law, and probably you do too, so here goes:

We were wondering the other day, while driving, how many specialty registration plates Maine offers for motor vehicles. (Technically, “registration” is the correct term, but most people call them “license” plates.) The answer is, a lot. Here’s what we found.

In addition to the standard, general issue Chickadee plate, the following specialty plates are available for an extra fee (a portion of which goes to support the cause): Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Black Bear, Breast Cancer Support, Conservation, Lobster, Sportsman, Support Our Troops, and University of Maine System. Also, a Wabanaki Recognition plate is available at no extra fee but only to tribal members.

Then there are the special veterans plates, including for those still serving or honorably discharged, disabled veterans, amputee or blind veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former POWs, Pearl Harbor survivors, and Gold Star families. There are also special commemorative decals for medals, badges and ribbons awarded and for each branch of the armed forces.

Plus, there are special plates for state, county and municipal vehicles, antique and custom vehicles, experimental vehicles, farm trucks, and vehicles of certain State officials, firefighters, car dealers, and so on.

It seems like a bewildering variety, frankly (and we probably missed a few). Evidently even the Legislature thinks so. There are laws prohibiting the issuance of any new specialty or recognition plate unless at least 2,000 supporters have signed a pledge to purchase and display it and have prepaid for a set (see 29-A M.R.S.A. §§ 468, 468-A). They also phase out a specialty or recognition plate after 10 year or if the number of sets issued falls below 4,000 for more than one year, whichever occurs first.

While specialty license plates can be colorful, they can also be controversial, at least in other states. About 30 states, for instance, have “Choose Life” (pro-life) plates, but only a few offer a pro-choice alternative. Abortion advocates have argued that this constitutes “viewpoint discrimination” by the states, in violation of the First Amendment, but the U.S. Supreme Court has held that states can pick and choose which causes they support. The Court last year upheld Texas’ refusal to issue a Confederate flag specialty plate on the grounds that this was protected “government speech” (see Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., 576 U.S. ___ (2015)). Texas, incidentally, has hundreds of specialty plates.

For more on Maine’s plates, including graphics, go here: http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/registration/agplates.html (By R.P.F.) n

Every now and then we need a break from the more serious side of law, and probably you do too, so here goes:

We were wondering the other day, while driving, how many specialty registration plates Maine offers for motor vehicles. (Technically, “registration” is the correct term, but most people call them “license” plates.) The answer is, a lot. Here’s what we found.

In addition to the standard, general issue Chickadee plate, the following specialty plates are available for an extra fee (a portion of which goes to support the cause): Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Black Bear, Breast Cancer Support, Conservation, Lobster, Sportsman, Support Our Troops, and University of Maine System. Also, a Wabanaki Recognition plate is available at no extra fee but only to tribal members.

Then there are the special veterans plates, including for those still serving or honorably discharged, disabled veterans, amputee or blind veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former POWs, Pearl Harbor survivors, and Gold Star families. There are also special commemorative decals for medals, badges and ribbons awarded and for each branch of the armed forces.

Plus, there are special plates for state, county and municipal vehicles, antique and custom vehicles, experimental vehicles, farm trucks, and vehicles of certain State officials, firefighters, car dealers, and so on.

It seems like a bewildering variety, frankly (and we probably missed a few). Evidently even the Legislature thinks so. There are laws prohibiting the issuance of any new specialty or recognition plate unless at least 2,000 supporters have signed a pledge to purchase and display it and have prepaid for a set (see 29-A M.R.S.A. §§ 468, 468-A). They also phase out a specialty or recognition plate after 10 year or if the number of sets issued falls below 4,000 for more than one year, whichever occurs first.

While specialty license plates can be colorful, they can also be controversial, at least in other states. About 30 states, for instance, have “Choose Life” (pro-life) plates, but only a few offer a pro-choice alternative. Abortion advocates have argued that this constitutes “viewpoint discrimination” by the states, in violation of the First Amendment, but the U.S. Supreme Court has held that states can pick and choose which causes they support. The Court last year upheld Texas’ refusal to issue a Confederate flag specialty plate on the grounds that this was protected “government speech” (see Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., 576 U.S. ___ (2015)). Texas, incidentally, has hundreds of specialty plates.

For more on Maine’s plates, including graphics, go here: http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/registration/agplates.html (By R.P.F.) n