Committee approves women veterans license plate; amendment adds House sponsor

Representative Penney presented Senate Bill 45 to the House Public Transportation Committee as a proposal to create a specialty license plate recognizing women veterans and to retire the Pearl Harbor survivor plate.

“Unfortunately, we are no longer a producer of Pearl Harbor survivors. There's only 16 of them left in the entire United States,” Penney said, noting Arkansas has roughly 20,000 women veterans. The bill would retire the Pearl Harbor survivor plate and add a women veterans plate.

Penney described the financial structure: an initial $20,000 start-up cost “which would come out of Advo,” for programming and initial startup; an initial license-plate issuance fee of $15; and a $1 annual renewal fee. Penney said a portion of the initial fee would pay down the start-up debt and remaining proceeds would go to women veterans programs; once the debt is repaid, the fees would continue to support those programs.

Before the bill presentation, Representative Stetson Painter offered an amendment to add himself as a House sponsor. “Senator Wallace forgot to add me as the House sponsor,” Painter said; the committee moved the amendment on a motion from Representative Richmond and approved it by voice vote. Representative Hawk asked to confirm that the single remaining Pearl Harbor survivor in Arkansas would still be able to obtain the existing plate; a committee member responded “Correct.”

Representative Whitaker moved that the committee recommend the bill do pass as amended; the committee approved that motion by voice vote.

The committee recorded no roll-call tallies in the transcript. No public testimony in opposition or support was recorded at the hearing.