UPDATE May 27, 2019: 2019 Legislative Session adjourned without taking action on this bill.
Senate Bill 805 was introduced on February 13, 2019 and subsequently referred to the Senate Transportation Committee.
The bill, and its counterpart House Bill 2149, would require a single license plate per vehicle rather than the current dual license plate (front and back) standard. There are many reasons for supporting a single license plate standard. Among them:
- The front license plate is redundant and unnecessary.
- 19 states have already eliminated the front license plate
- No state has switched from one plate to two plates in several decades and it is easy to understand why: drivers don’t want to drill holes into the front bumpers of their cars to accommodate an additional plate
- Requiring one rather than two plates is a revenue-saving measure for the state
- Important safety technology such as proximity and traffic sensors are present on the front bumpers of modern cars, which impede and can be damaged by attempts to install a front plate
- It would conserve non-renewable natural resources (aluminum and fuel)
- One less plate per vehicle means less opportunity for automatic license plate readers used by for-profit data collectors to identify motorists and track their movements