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Sponsor says bill would let state contract with private vendor to modernize specialty license plates
Summary
Senate Bill 91 would authorize the Registrar to contract with a private vendor to manage a specialty license-plate program alongside the statutory process; sponsor said the change is intended to increase sales and revenue for a designated fund and to preserve legislative control over plate approvals.
Senator Cattrona provided sponsor testimony on Senate Bill 91, which would authorize the registrar of motor vehicles to use a competitively selected private vendor to operate a specialty license plate program alongside the current statutory process.
“To modernize the specialty plate ordering system while simultaneously enhancing consumer service and choice,” Senator Cattrona told Chair Patton and members of the committee, the bill would allow a vendor to market and manage specialty and personalized plates and return revenue to the state. The sponsor pointed to Texas as an example, saying vendors there have sold more than 850,000 specialty and personalized plates and generated more than $200 million; the senator said the program would direct revenue to the state’s drug-law enforcement fund unless the legislature chooses otherwise.
Committee members asked whether the proposal would privatize an existing state function and whether it would change the destination of funds now directed by statute to nonprofit or other recipients. Senator Smith asked whether the bill “change the amount of money, or rather, is this gonna change the destination of money that we would normally be getting, through, you know, these specialty license plates?” Cattrona replied that the arrangement is a third-party contract and said the state would likely see increased revenue and that legislative authority to create plates would remain intact. Ranking Member Antonio asked whether the state was adding a private middleman; the sponsor said the third-party vendor would market plates and improve user experience while the controlling board and legislature would retain oversight.
Why it matters: The bill would alter the administrative process for specialty plates by enabling a private vendor to operate a parallel ordering channel; sponsors said the change could increase sales and revenue directed to a specified fund but said the legislature would retain approval authority over plate designs.
The committee recorded a first hearing and requested further clarification on revenue flows and oversight in subsequent testimony.
