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Committee backs cleanup bill limiting personalized plates to one and removing county decal requirement
Summary
House Bill 22-89 would limit personalized license plates to one per person, remove a requirement to put county designation on registration decals and update statutes for digitally produced plates; Department of Revenue said the changes reflect current digital production and law-enforcement concerns from past two-plate issuance.
The Kansas House Committee on Transportation considered House Bill 22-89, a statutory cleanup that would limit a person to one personalized license plate, remove a requirement that registration decals carry a county designation, and update manufacturing and distribution language for digitally produced plates. Committee staff said the bill's provisions would take effect July 1, 2025 if enacted.
Committee staff summarized the bill’s three main parts: amending KSA 8-132 to limit one personalized plate per person and require that personalized plates be displayed on the rear of the vehicle; amending KSA 8-134 to remove the statutory requirement that registration decals include a county designation; and amending KSA 8-147 to remove outdated provisions about decal quantities and to allow digitally fulfilled license-plate orders to be shipped directly to customers.
Deanna Shepherd, senior manager of Vehicle Services at the Kansas Department of Revenue, testified in support and described the bill as a technical update to reflect digital production systems and the department’s current processes. Shepherd said county designations are now printed directly on digitally produced plates and the color registration decal is printed as a single piece that already matches the plate number; removing the statutory decal requirement would align the law with current practice and reduce redundancy.
Shepherd also explained why issuing two identical personalized plates for a single vehicle has been discontinued: most modern vehicles lack an uninstalled front mounting bracket, Kansas does not generally require front plates except on truck tractors, and the brief period in 1999–2000 when two personalized plates were issued caused enforcement confusion because some motorists displayed a personalized plate on a different vehicle than the registration decal indicated.
Lawmakers asked whether the bill would criminalize displaying a second plate on the front of a vehicle; Shepherd and committee staff said the change removes the option to issue two personalized plates for the same registration but does not amend statutes that allow certain vehicles to have front plates under separate provisions. Representative Proctor sought and received clarification that the bill would not prevent a person from having different personalized plates on different vehicles.
Committee members also asked where plates are produced. Shepherd said plates are printed in Wichita at Center Industries. Representative Essex moved that the committee pass the bill; Representative Helgerson seconded and the committee voted the bill out favorably by voice vote.
Committee staff reported no fiscal effect to agency operations in the materials provided to the committee.
