Two new specialty license plates proposed by Iowa lawmakers
KATHY A. BOLTEN Feb 27, 2020 | 3:52 pm
2 min read time
575 wordsAll Latest News, Government Policy and LawTwo bills winding their way through the Iowa Legislature would provide Iowans with more choices of specialty license plates while generating revenue for the state.
Bills for both plates – “The Corn State” and “Flying Our Colors” (mockup pictured) – have passed out of the Senate’s transportation committee.
If the legislation is approved, the two license plate designs would join Iowa’s more than 70 other specialty plates from which vehicle owners may select. Five percent, or more than 221,000, of the 4.5 million vehicles registered in Iowa have specialty plates, according to the Legislative Services Agency.
Iowa in July began offering “blackout” license plates, which were approved by the state Legislature during the 2019 session. The specialty plates sold out in most counties the first week they were available.
Iowa Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, said after seeing how popular the blackout plates were, he thought about reintroducing a vintage plate that included the slogan “The Corn State.”
“I know they won’t be as popular as the blackout plates, but I think farmers would like them,” said Kapucian, who grows corn and soybeans on his Benton County farm. “Farmers take pride in what they do, and it would state it right there on their pickup or their car and people would see and say, ‘This guy’s a farmer.”
“The Corn State” was the first slogan used on an Iowa license plate, according to the website Licenseplates.TV. Those plates were first issued in 1953.
Under Senate File 2297, the license plate would be white and include the phrase “The Corn State” across the top. An image of an ear of corn would appear behind the plate’s letters and numbers, which would be black.
The Legislative Services Agency estimated 6,000 of the corn state plates would be sold during the first two years they were available. Sale of the plates, which would cost $35 plus an annual $10 fee, would raise $289,500 during the first two years they were available, according to the agency. Money generated by the plates’ sale would be deposited in the state’s Road Use Tax Fund.
The cost to produce the plates was estimated at $13,500, according to the agency.
Senate File 2181 proposes creating a “Flying Our Colors” license plate that would include a navy stripe across the top, red stripe on the bottom and white in the middle that would include a gray image of a bald eagle. The image would appear behind the plate’s letters and numbers.
The plate would include features that are similar to Iowa’s state flag.
Plates would cost $35 plus an additional $10 annually. Money raised from the sale of the plates through July 1, 2023, would be deposited in the state’s flood mitigation fund.
Revenue from the sale of the plates “would help flood victims in southwest Iowa or other flood victims in Iowa,” Kapucian said.
The Legislative Services Agency estimates that 3,500 “Flying Our Colors” licenses plates would be sold during the first two years they were available. The estimated $175,000 generated from the sale of the plates would be put in the state’s flood mitigation fund. The cost to produce the plates is estimated at $7,400, according to the agency.
Kapucian, chairperson of the senate’s transportation committee, said the “Flying Our Colors” license plate has “plenty of support. I think ‘The Corn State’ will, too.”
Kapucian said he expects the bills to be debated on the Senate floor within the next two weeks.
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