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Senate panel concurs on bill moving nonprofit specialty license plates to DOJ
Summary
The Senate Transportation Committee voted to concur on House Bill 641, transferring oversight of one remaining nonprofit specialty license plate from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Justice to align it with approximately 200 other specialty plates.
The Montana Senate Transportation Committee on a recent hearing voted to concur on House Bill 641, which would move oversight of a remaining nonprofit specialty license plate from the Department of Commerce into the Department of Justice's streamlined specialty plate process.
Supporters said the bill is a technical cleanup to ensure fairness for nonprofits that apply for specialty plates. The sponsor said the change returns the last holdout plate to the same process used by about 200 other specialty plates and reduces Department of Revenue involvement.
Mandy Rambo, deputy director and acting director of the Montana Department of Commerce, told the committee the department had previously tried to bring a similar bill in 2023 but did not pursue it after outreach issues related to a staffing change. "We did inform them that we would be carrying this bill this session as well," Rambo said, and described the measure as a fix for a license plate that "was missed in the cleanup in 2021." She said the dollar amounts involved are small.
Molly Krukenberg, director of the Montana Historical Society, said the historical society receives a small portion of revenue from the Lewis and Clark bicentennial plate and attended the hearing to answer questions. Krukenberg told the committee the account's revenue has diminished; she said authority allocated for the next biennium was only $1,100 per year (a quarter share of proceeds), and that the plate also provides an intangible benefit by keeping the bicentennial visible to motorists.
Committee discussion included confirmation that the three nonprofits that formerly received funds through the Department of Commerce had received about $3,300 each in 2021. The sponsor and Commerce representatives said the bill equalizes the application and approval process so those nonprofits apply through the Department of Justice like other groups.
After closing the hearing, a motion to concur was made and the committee proceeded by voice vote. The record shows at least one recorded no vote before proxies were confirmed; committee leadership announced the motion carried.
The bill was advanced by the committee; formal vote tallies were not fully recorded in the hearing transcript provided.
