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Committee introduces proposal for two new Idaho specialty plates including 'World Famous Potatoes' design
Summary
The Idaho House Transportation Committee voted to introduce RS 32331, a request statute proposing two new license-plate options: a black plate reading "Idaho" with "world famous potatoes" and a lower-cost retro white plate with teal lettering. Sponsors said both would omit county designations and be printed to order.
Representative Doug Pickett, District 27, told the Idaho House Transportation Committee that RS 32331 would create two optional license-plate designs and asked the committee to introduce the request statute. "There's a growing demand in Idaho for additional license plate[s]," Pickett said, describing one plate as an all-black design with white lettering and the phrase "world famous potatoes" along the bottom and another as a lower-cost retro white plate with teal lettering.
The sponsor said the black plate would mirror an older Idaho plate (an example from 1953) but would not include the white boundary or county designation. Pickett said the lower-cost white plate is intended as a basic, least-cost option for registrants who do not want to pay extra fees and that it would likewise omit a county identifier.
Committee members asked procedural and design questions. Representative Crane asked whether the plates would include county identifiers; Pickett answered they would not. Representative Clow asked whether the cheaper plate would carry alphanumeric characters; Pickett said the white plate would include numerals or letters as usual. Pickett added a design note that the black plate would include an "FP" suffix on the alphanumeric sequence to indicate "Famous Potatoes."
Representative Gannon and others said there have been past specialty plates that failed to reach sufficient sales, and Gannon asked whether that risk existed here; Pickett said there was strong demand from constituents and other legislators but deferred broader production and sales questions to the bill hearing. Committee staff (chair) clarified that plates are printed to order rather than produced in large preprinted quantities.
Mr. Sherman moved to introduce RS 32331; the committee approved the motion by voice vote with no recorded opposition.
The RS will be scheduled for bill hearing where sponsors and staff are expected to provide sales estimates, production costs, and draft language specifying fees and plate issuance rules.
