No sale on business-sponsored license plates idea

A legislative idea in Illinois to convert some vehicle license plates into miniature billboards probably wouldn't sell in Iowa, state transportation leaders say.

An Illinois lawmaker from Chicago offered a proposal recently to create corporate sponsorship plates that motorists could buy at a discount. John Mulroe, a Democratic state senator, said the approach would allow the state of Illinois to raise revenue without raising taxes.

As envisioned, a vehicle owner would pay the standard price for a state license plate, but would receive a discounted rate with the difference made up by a corporate sponsor that would be provided space to advertise on the plate. Companies participating in the program also would pay a fee to the state for being granted advertising privileges.

Rep. David Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, a retired Iowa State trooper who is chairman of the House Transportation Committee, called the idea of business-sponsored plates “interesting,” but he doubted it would catch on because there already is concern that Iowa's license plates are becoming too jumbled and cluttered by specialty plates for natural resources, veterans, education and other designations as well as vanity messages and college colors. There are more legislative requests again this year for specialized plates, he noted.

“I don't think there would be any appetite for that in Iowa,” Tjepkes said of adding corporate sponsorships to the mix. “I don't think we'll lower ourselves to that level.”

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, co-chairman of the House-Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals budget subcommittee, said Iowa's ongoing budget challenges have created an environment where lawmakers cannot be precluded from considering all potential financial opportunities. Also he doubted state officials would opt for commercial-sponsorships on vehicle plates. He said there have been other suggestions that have come up from time to time to placing advertisements on county or state properties or selling naming rights but those have not moved forward either.

“License plates have been kind of a sacred battle around here,” McCoy said. “We're got program creep where programs creep in, and veterans like to recognize the Purple Hearts and the Korean veterans and the Vietnam veterans, and they all want their plates. I would say that, at this point, it's probably not something that I would want to pursue, but if somebody could tell me that it made a compelling financial case for us to do that, I think we would sure look just from the perspective of exploring all our options.”

Dena Gray-Fisher of the Iowa Department of Transportation said the option of business-sponsored plates has surfaced on multiple occasions throughout the years, especially as plate manufacturing has changed to digital technology. But, she said she did not recall any discussions about a funding approach using a discounted purchase underwritten by a corporate sponsor like what has been proposed in Illinois.

“The main concern with this approach is that it penalizes the other vehicle owners purchasing a standard plate and gives a preference to persons purchasing sponsored plates,” she said.

Gray-Fisher said legislation also has been introduced in Florida this year to establish corporate-sponsored plates and some states with two license plates on vehicles have considered requiring one regular license plate on each vehicle's rear and allowing specialty plates on the front only. The specialty plates would still be manufactured by the state and revenues going to the state or non-profit organization.

Texas began a corporate license plate program in 2009 as a public/private effort (http://www.myplates.com) between the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and Etech, Inc. and Pinnacle Technical Resources that resulted in mini-mobile billboards for corporate sponsor Re/Max with revenues going to help support the Children's Miracle Network charity, she said.

Legislation was introduced in California last year that sought to replace license plates with digital versions using “smart” plate technology which would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle was in motion, but switch to digital ads or other messages when it was stopped for more than four seconds - whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen.

While such approaches generate revenue, Gray-Fisher said there several drawbacks that include adding to driver distractions, the issue of discretion in deciding what would be considered appropriate messages by business sponsors, and concern over increasing the difficulty law enforcement officers already have in distinguishing among the dozens of plates that currently are issued. Another consideration would be cost, given that a minimum order generally would be needed to offset the cost of design of the plates, she said. Currently, the minimum is 500, so the question would be whether businesses would be able to generate the needed level of participants.

Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said no one has pitched the idea of corporate sponsorship for vehicle plates to Iowa lawmakers and - though interesting - he doubts it would fly.

“I guess my knee-jerk reaction is that I probably would tend - if we're going to go that route - to just do more of the vanity plate type stuff as opposed to just advertising it. I guess I don't have a lot of pretty lovin' feelings for it,” he said. “From my perspective, we're just not there.”