House Transportation panel moves to add H761 to ban home-printed temporary license plates

The House Transportation committee on April 23 moved unanimously to add H761 into its miscellaneous motor vehicle bill, taking a formal step toward ending the electronic issuance of home-printed temporary license plates.

Staff told the committee the draft language contains two parts: a repeal of the statutory authorization for electronic issuance of temporary plates and an amendment to the statute governing where and how temporary or in-transit plates must be displayed. The change would explicitly allow dealer-issued temporary plates to continue while prohibiting the at-home printable paper tags that the department previously allowed.

Committee members were shown data staff described as about 100,000 at-home temporary plates produced during an earlier backlog; staff said roughly two-thirds of those never resulted in final registrations or payment. The DMV commissioner previously suspended the online printing program, and staff said the department had already taken administrative action before this bill was drafted.

Members debated options for how to enact the change: repeal the statute so the issuance is permanently forbidden, add a moratorium in session law, or rely on the commissioner’s administrative pause. Legal questions were raised about separation of powers if the executive branch permanently stopped issuing plates that the statute appeared to allow. Staff noted technical edits would be needed to update cross-referenced section numbers and that the temporary-plate provisions might be split from unrelated sections on tinting and plate coloring to reduce exposure to floor amendments.

A committee member made a motion "to move H761 into our statement," which the committee approved by a voice thumbs-up; staff said it would draft the amendment and re-number sections as needed. The bill text sets an example effective date of July 1 but members discussed making the change effective on passage.

The committee directed staff to prepare language that captures the repeal of electronic issuance while preserving dealer-issued and in-house temporary plates, and to return with the redrafted text and any clarifying statutory citations. The panel moved to its next agenda items after the action.

The committee did not record a roll-call vote; members approved the motion by voice.

What happens next: staff will draft the formal amendment language to insert H761 into the DMV bill and present the redraft for the committee’s further review.