Louisiana residents have to be increasingly creative to expressthemselves on state-issued license plates.
The state’s Office of Motor Vehicles enforces strict criteriafor wording on personalized license plates, and for the past yearhas been prohibited from issuing specialized plates while a lawsuitwaits in appeals court.
Specialized plates were a popular fundraising option for manyspecial interest groups, military organizations and universitiesuntil a New Orleans judge halted their distribution in April2003.
A final decision still is pending in the “Choose Life Platecase,” said Michelle Rayburn, public information officer for theLouisiana Office of Motor Vehicles.
Rayburn said a lawsuit was brought against the state whenlegislators denied a pro-choice group’s request for a specialtyplate despite the availability of a “Choose Life” plate.
Judge Stanwood Duval of the U.S. District Court Eastern Divisionreversed the initial decision to recall all specialized plates fourmonths after the trial.
“We can’t sell any new plates now, but anyone who has them nowcan keep them and renew them,” Rayburn said.
Defense attorneys for the state say it is not discrimination toallow certain groups to express themselves on plates and denyothers that option.
“The state is not creating a public forum when it chooses toallow someone a specialized plate,” said Roy Mongeau, an assistantto the Attorney General. “We think the state has the right to putwhatever it wants on there. That doesn’t mean it has to alloweverything.”
Kathryn Shepperd, a mass communication senior, said the stateshould allow both groups to have a specialized plate.
“That sounds like discrimination,” she said. “If it’s raisingmoney, they should start issuing them again.”
Specialized plates cost around an extra $25 each year, dependingon the organization, Rayburn said. The extra revenue goes back tothe plate’s sponsor.
The case is stalled in appeals court, but Mongeau said heexpects Duval to rule any day.
Personalized license plates are carefully filtered before theyare approved. The OMV strictly prohibits messages with “ethnic,racial, vulgar or indecent connotations,” Rayburn said.