the whole license plate thing

[juldea]

For those who aren't aware, there's a pro-life license plate available in Massachusetts now. It's been the talk of a lot of debate, and I just looked up the laws surrounding special license plate requests, and wanted to make sure the information was spread.

The law is here: http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section2F -- I shall summarize:

(a) If you can gather $100,000 and 1,500 people to both sign (with full name, address, and phone number) and to pay $40 each to pre-order a special license plate, you can get a special plate made in Massachusetts. You submit a design to the registrar, and they have 90 days to approve it and make you a design. There is no option written in the law for the registrar to refuse any submission; the wording is, "The registrar shall approve..." (emphasis mine.)

(b) 3,000 plates will be made in the first two years. If you manage to get 3,000 people to buy the plates, you get your $100,000 back. If not, it will be used to pay for the plates already ordered.

(c) There's a bunch of charities the government likes for these plates. (Honestly, I can't figure out what this section is for. Maybe one of you lawyer-y types can clarify.)

(d) I'll reprint this one in total, adding emphasis: "(d) The registrar shall design, produce, issue and regulate the use of distinctive registration plates proposed by any agency, charity or nonprofit organization that has satisfactorily complied with the conditions and requirements set forth in subsection (a)." If you do the things in step a, you get a plate. End of discussion. No matter the subject.

So. Yeah. There are plates out there now that express an idea that misquemes me. That sucks. But this law also means that 1,499 friends and I can get together money and order a plate that says something I like but someone else dislikes, maybe even something someone else finds offensive. I like keeping that option available. That's what living in a free society is all about.

What REALLY sucks is that this law isn't obvious, and there will be people who think the RMV and therefore the state government itself is promoting the Pro-Life movement. I don't know what to do about that part.

Apologies if I've made any really glaring errors here. It's 2am, and I should really be going to bed.

Comments

[darkoni]

That makes it sound like any offensive plate could be approved if you get enough people to back it and some sort of organization behind it.

Despite what it says, I find it highly unlikely that a racially offensive plate would get created, even if submitted properly. I imagine it would somehow get stopped. And once one plate is stopped, they would then need to figure out what the standards are and why the stuff submitted before was fine and the one that was stopped wasn't.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I think they are relying on the large numbers involved - $100,000 plus $60,000 and 1,500 signatures - to basically do the "approval" process for offensive content. That's certainly how the law reads.

I agree that if something racially offensive slipped past, there would be some time spent at the legislature looking at this rule. However, I'm not sure it could be legally stopped during the process. The backers would certainly have a case against the state if it were.

[gower.livejournal.com]

That was a really lucid comment. Thanks.

[gower.livejournal.com]

I meant, "lucid post." Darkoni, your comment was lucid too. Lucid lucid. I like to say lucid.

And misqueme.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

:) I used "misqueme" in bed last night (well, THAT doesn't sound good, now does it) and realized that I missed a great opportunity to use it in this post. It has now been edited.

[quish.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for looking this up.

If I had $100k to spare, I would honestly do this. "People Against Stupidity" or "License Plates Are For Morons" or "ZOMBIE AWARENESS" with a bleeding ribbon or something.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Well, can you get 1500 people with cars to contribute $150? Because if you can, you've got your $100k.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

"What REALLY sucks is that this law isn't obvious, and there will be people who think the RMV and therefore the state government itself is promoting the Pro-Life movement. I don't know what to do about that part."

Well, I'm going to start by linking to this entry to explain to people what's up.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I just made the post public. Go for it.

[swashbucklr]

But now I have a good way to identify the people I am likely to have serious disagreements with.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

i'm sure they all already have bumper stickers or are carrying large photos on sticks of aborted fetuses.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

You know what I bet would totally actually work? A same-sex marriage support license plate.

If we want to get all political about it. I mean, hey, Massachusetts.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome idea! I would totally contribute some money to that.

[nightskyre.livejournal.com]

I appreciate this. I poked around briefly looking for these stipulations but didn't find them (I was at work) so thanks for actually finding them.

I mean, really my opinion on the whole thing anyway was that since you can just get a plain plate, it wasn't really any different than a plate and a bumper sticker. Of course, barbienne's point in the other post was a good one. You know what I'm referring to.

[nightskyre.livejournal.com]

barbarienne. Boo.