Lincoln Bicentennial Special License Plates

Earlier this week, I wrote that House Minority Leader Tom Cross had indicated police groups have expressed concerns with special license plates and that there had been a general "move away" from the issuance of new special plates in Springfield. I also mentioned that Representative Cross, and several other legislators, subsequently voted for special "In God We Trust" plates.

Yesterday, the House adopted an amendment to another "In God We Trust" special plates bill, transforming it into a "Lincoln Bicentennial" special plates bill. The new special plates would cost an additional $25 initially and upon renewal. Upon issuance, $10 would go into a new Lincoln Legacy Scholarship Fund; and $15 would go into the Secretary of State Special License Plate Fund to help defray the administrative processing costs. With each renewal, $23 would go into the Lincoln Legacy Scholarship Fund; and $2 into the Secretary of State Special License Plate Fund.

Subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, and approval by the Secretary, all money in the Lincoln Legacy Scholarship Fund would be paid as grants to the Illinois Community College System Foundation, to be used to fund the Lincoln Legacy Scholarship program, founded by the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The Illinois Community College System Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; and the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was created by Governor Rod Blagojevich, by executive order, back on February 14th of 2006. The Illinois commission is separate and distinct from the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission on which several Illinois representatives also serve.

The bill has been scheduled for a third reading and short debate; and if it passes, it will then go to the Senate for approval. I have three questions for readers to answer in their comments:

1. Considering the concerns allegedly expressed by police groups regarding special license plates, should the General Assembly be authorizing the creation of new special plates?

2. What do you think about the practice of creating a separate "special fund" within the State treasury for each of these special plates, as has been the common practice?

3. Do you think that this proposal would be a good use of the funds? (i.e. Would the funds be going to the right organizations and be earmarked for the best possible use?)

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Special License Plates

Yesterday's question of the day on the Capitol Fax Blog mentioned the passage of a bill, out of Senate committee, to authorize the issuance of NASCAR special license plates and Rich Miller asked what other special license plates people would like to see in Illinois.

A few months ago, I presented a draft bill to Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross, my representative, that would have authorized the creation of special license plates for each legally established political party. The design would have been mutually agreed upon between the Chairman of each State Central Committee and the Illinois Secretary of State; and the proceeds would have been used (1) to pay for the cost of issuing the plates, and (2) as a distribution to the local County Central Committee of each party in which the plates were registered.

My thinking on this was that the act would not only give Illinois citizens an opportunity to promote their chosen political party but also potentially help reduce each party's reliance on private campaign contributions.

To his credit, as is usually the case, Representative Cross was kind and professional enough to personally call me in order to discuss the proposal. He explained to me that, while he thought the proposal was an interesting idea, various police groups have expressed concerns with special plates and that there had been a general move away from the issuance of new special plates.

Based on this feedback, I rethought my position on this issue. If the promulgation of special license plates presents a law enforcement problem, then I'm against them. After all, the primary purpose of vehicular license plates is law enforcement--not aesthetic vanity or fundraising.

Shortly thereafter, to my dismay, I was surprised to learn that Representative Cross then voted for a bill to authorize the issuance of "In God We Trust" special license plates.

Without even getting into the issues of separation of church and state raised by this overtly religious phrase (which became the "national motto" only in 1956) it seems to me that there is a serious disconnect here. If special license plates do indeed present a law enforcement problem, our elected representatives should listen to the concerns of enforcement officials, rather than simply ignoring them for political or religious reasons.

Of course, another possibility is that special plates do not actually present a law enforcement problem; and Representative Cross simply didn't like the idea of special plates for established political parties. If that was the case, I would have preferred that he told me that.

Do special license plates really present a law enforcement problem?

Also, in your opinion, was Representative Cross being genuine/honest when he told me that police groups have expressed concerns with special license plates and that there had been a "move away" from them? (Did he later change his mind, or was there something particularly important about these special plates that overrode the law enforcement issue?)

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