INDIANAPOLIS – Dozens of non-profit organizations around the state would lose their specialty group license plates under legislation passed out of the House Roads and Transportation Committee on Wednesday.
Some of the groups affected include the Special Olympics, Indiana Youth Institute, Teamsters, Rotary Club, Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, National Rifle Association, Indiana Youth Group, Ducks Unlimited, the Indiana Zoological Society and the Tony Stewart Foundation.
Lawmakers added an amendment to Senate Bill 327 that is meant to get the specialty group license plate program under control. Some police officers say the variety of plates is hindering proper vehicle identification.
But the bill also addresses a simmering feud about a plate that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles approved last summer for a gay youth group.
The legislation would specifically eliminate 10 specialty plate designs that are being sold for the first time this year and any others that did not sell at least 1,000 plates in 2011.
Groups that lose their plates can reapply in 2013. The legislature must approve their applications. The bill would not affect plates issued for governmental agencies or colleges and universities.
The BMV currently offers more than 100 specialty group license plates. Hoosiers pay $40 for such a plate, of which $25 is sent to the charity or non-profit.
“We ask you not to punish our organization,” said Charles Hyde, from the Indianapolis Zoo. “We followed the law in good faith.”
Cathy Williams, who represents the Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the group spent two years getting the plate and is counting on the money raised from it.
She said the group would be happy to comply with additional transparency and accountability requirements but said she doesn’t think it’s right to eliminate the plate.
“I don’t understand the problem with the current program,” she said.
Others who testified against losing their plates were the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders, the Indiana Youth Group, The Marine Foundation of Indiana and Special Olympics.
Several mentioned that they have five-year contracts with the BMV that the legislature would be breaking.
The BMV has been handling the approval process for the plates for about five years, when legislators decided to get out of the business of approving individual requests from entities.
Now Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said the General Assembly should get involved again by requiring more financial information from groups and by ensuring that they don’t advocate for individual political candidates.
“We shouldn’t be pushing the judgment calls off on the administration,” he said. “When we are using state agencies to collect money, we have some responsibility to look at who these funds are for and where the money goes.”
Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, said he fears that requests for plates will be treated politically in today’s current environment.
“I’m not going to pay the price,” he said. “I don’t want to spend the next two years voting on every license plate. The legislature is massively distracted.”
The bill passed 8-2 and now moves to the full House.
nkelly@jg.net