HB 166, removing a requirement for vehicles in Alaska to have a front license plate, has passed the House and moves to the Senate.
Rep. Kevin McCabe, prime sponsor of the bill, said the savings to the state is estimated to be $330,000 every year.
“I was honored to see HB166 pass the House floor today. This bill was a result of looking for efficiencies that would result in savings to our state budget no matter the amount. I am happy to take smaller, long-term steps towards a more sustainable budget and this bill does that,” McCabe said. Twenty other states don’t require front license plates, including the most recent one to eliminate the requirement, Ohio, he said.
Voting against the bill were mostly Democrats — Reps. Harriet Drummond, Zack Fields, Sara Hannan, Andy Josephson, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Liz Snyder, Ivy Spohnholz, Geran Tarr. Republicans David Eastman and Chris Kurka also voted against it, as a wedge has developed between them and the bill’s sponsor McCabe, who has recently called them out for their scorched-earth tactics.
In favor of the bill were Reps. Ben Carpenter, Matt Claman, Mike Cronk, Bryce Edgmon, Neal Foster, Ron Gillham, Grier Hopkins, DeLena Johnson, James Kaufman, Bart LeBon, Kevin McCabe, Ken McCarty, Tom McKay, Kelly Merrick, David Nelson, Daniel Ortiz, Josiah Patkotak, Mike Prax, Sara Rasmussen, George Rauscher, Calvin Schrage, Laddie Shaw, Andi Story, Louise Stutes, Steve Thompson, Cathy Tilton, Chris Tuck, Sarah Vance, and Adam Wool.
How about addressing really important issues such as voting integrity, banning critical race theory from all schools and universities in Alaska and restoring 1st amendment rights by banning media and social media disinformation/gaslighting? The Great Awakening has taken place and the local and state legislatures better wake up and stop pandering to the Marxists and other dark organizations associated with George Soros and Gates Foundation, big pharma mafia, and the WEF sick agenda.
Equity is not equality! Critical Race theory is the worst social agenda to have ever been created as it teaches hate! Assault on American Constitutional Rights must end and legislation must be passed to ensure another “Plandemic” is prevented. Alaska sovereignty must be taken back from Biden, et.al. Alaskan’s should decide on resource development, not corrupt politicians in DC! Personal sovereignty must be restored.
Thank you I was gonna say the same thing! License plates?? Last I checked the front one was not necessary already. Hence why DMV only gives you One tag to renew. The other thing, what if you go out of state with your vehicle?? Other states have rules that say you must have both. This is what Alaska is concerned with right now??? Frigging license plates?? Wow.
Other states can only regulate the cars that are registered in their state. As long as your car is registered in Alaska, it can have one, two or no plate at all…whatever Alaska law says.
Yeah!
“restoring 1st amendment rights by banning media and social media disinformation/gaslighting”. That’s ironical at best.
If Rep. Kurka wants to be governor, he needs to look for ways to make friends, not enemies. This cost saving idea seems like an easy win for a budget concious conservative. Petty personal differences should not get in the way of moving in the right direction. Pathetic.
There is no savings. This bill does not decrease what DMV is charging you for plates…..What is really happening here is that any alleged savings are just being spent elsewhere….Typical RINO move.
This is the BEST they can do down in Juneau? “The Legislative Branch is responsible for enacting the laws of the State of Alaska and appropriating the money [the BUDGET] necessary to operate the government.” I’d say that their priority must be to pass a capital budget and operating budget. Worry about license plate locations some other time AFTER passing these budgets.
I think they are out of bridges to name…..
Now if they would save money and time by having one oil and gas agency instead of many. Alaska can’t increase production because the red tape is killing Alaska’s ability to attract risk capital. Do something like this and the legislature will not only save lots of money but increase production and jobs so the state of Alaska can be energy dominant and supply our oil and gas thirsty allies worldwide!
Wake up and smell the oil money and tell the cult to stop killing the economy and jobs in Alaska.
Yesterday I went out to my car and found that my front license plate is now missing. What? Oh, well. Hopefully HB 166 will be finalized and the Governor will sign it into law soon so I will not have to replace it.
What do the police organizations think about no front plates? A responsible legislator would provide a State contact to report a lost/stolen plate. Simply calculating the cost to make a license plate is not a competent economic analysis IMO.
I just checked. Over half of the lower 48 require front and rear plates. Washington included. So basically if you are someone who uses the ferry or drives out, you are going to be stung with a ticket. Also British Columbia, Manitoba and a couple other areas in Canada require it.
All this stupid bill is going to do, is get those Alaskans busted as they travel to other states.
Dunleavy??? Where are you? Hiding?? I found this out pretty simple…. Alaska government has gone down the drain of this is the best that can be done!
RiseUp, show some common sense please. States can only require 2 plates, inspection stickers, etc. on vehicles registered in their state. While living in Georgia, I purchased a vehicle in Ohio. I drove it home to Georgia without any plates, because Georgia did not even require temporary tags, and allowed 30 days to register. No problems.
ARU, you are wrong.
Those jurisdictions that (stupidly) require front license plates do so ONLY for those vehicles registered in those jurisdictions.
.
Anyway, this is all beside the point, as nobody has been enforcing the front license plate requirement in Alaska for the past several years, and I am seeing more and more vehicles without a front license plate all the time.
This is the best legislation ever!! Front license plates are ugly. Maybe now I can finally retire my velcro front license plate I use for parking downtown. Keep up the good work Juneau!
Working on license plates as the citizens are being crushed in this economy.
Beautiful.
Awesome I hope they tackle the lack of hand sanitizer in public bathrooms next
And the lack of appropriate fresh floral arrangements!
.
Why is the Municipality of Anchorage so hatefully anti-flower?
This is the best they can do?
I would vote against it. It’s important to have the front plate. People and law enforcement can see it in both directions. Helps catch the criminals and others do do the wrong thing.
Definitely need both front and back. Law enforcement and regular citizens can see it.
Then can we get our full dividends oath breakers. Shameless
A full and complete NOTHING BURGER bill.
Odd isn’t it? McCabe claims to be a conservative and yet he is unwilling to pass these alleged ‘savings’ back to the voters by reducing the fee the state is charging to make those license plates.
I think I’d vote against this bill for that reason alone.
So McCabe says it will save the State 330 K per year, I am not sure about that, but if it did… one would only expect the bill also to REDUCE the cost of Registration by a similar sum?
Typical Republican virtue signaling here. Meanwhile Rome is in smolders. No wonder Eastman voted against this silly feel good fluff piece.
That’ll halve the static speed camera tickets when they reappear, lol. #theynothink
So last year I remember the legislative session(s) went into special sessions. The extra cost was in excess of half a million dollars.
How about you save the state money and do your jobs in the 90 days you are required to? Or no OT for special sessions?
And… Get the D@mn budget done FIRST!!!
Legislative waste of time.
Will save the state $330K per year? We pay for license plates, where does that money go?
This is right up there with the debate over the state vegetable.
Surely there were more important things to consider.
And they wonder why so many of us want a Constitutional Convention.
They have already blown the trivial savings taking time for such nonsense. As a lot of people are pointing out, isn’t there more important issues while our government is on overtime? Seems they now have a windfall of our money to spend. How about a “woke bonus “ for the most woke bill?
So now the DMV will only issue one plate. You will have the option of purchasing a second, if you choose. Watch.
I’ve never put a front license plate on. But I drive a Porsche.
I think this is a great idea. Incomplete perhaps, but a great idea.
The other piece of this that is long overdue is removal of the vehicle owner’s physical address from the vehicle registration. It doesn’t add any value but there is a significant liability. If someone steals your vehicle and it has your physical address on it then they know where you live and they have your garage door opener.
I take a photo copy of my reg w/ the physical location deleted just for this reason. Absolutely amazing that no one would’ve caught this before and as the city grows to attract more democrats, welfare recipients and thieves this kind of legacy errata becomes even more glaring.
Excellent points.
Honestly, Nowadays there is no real reason that the registration document be in the vehicle. It’s something that is a holdover from the days prior to radio communication and easy access to electronic data. All an officer need do nowadays is either call dispatch or do a search in his mobile data terminal with the license plate number or the operators name and he has immediate access to all the details regarding the vehicles registration and the owners licensee status.
Heck, even the Canadians and the Mexicans have access to this data.
I haven’t had a front plate on any of my cars for decades. This is what our legislators do for their salaries? It’s a bad joke. Very bad!!!
All legislators should be required to have a front plate that says, “IDIOT.”
As we are almost certainly headed into another special session I’m so glad the Legislature is working on important issues like this!
Saving $330,000 grand a year is a (small) step in the right direction. If they don’t have the votes to do the things that will save more I am fine, for now, with them saving a little.
Thank God! Finally! If this goes through , I will be able to cancel my next appointment with my therapist which I had made to help me to cope with the stress of dealing with my front license plate!
Having to switch the front and the back, because of all the bugs on there, and the plastic film coming off when I try to clean off the bugs, and the plate bends because they’re made out of Reynolds wrap now, and what if I want to put some moose lights on my rig, and the bracket covers up the holes, and what if the screws get all rusty and I can’t get them off??!!! We can all be grateful that we have representatives in Juneau working on the really important core issues, like this one. I’m going to sleep a lot better tonight knowing that they are taking care of this. – M.John
With all the new supply, the plates for sale at the state fair should drop in price
They need to save the money to fnd their endless per diems
In this time of crisis, with skyrocketing inflation and fuel prices, the continuing theft of the PFDs etc, it is hugely comforting to know that our legislature will dig in, get down to work, and attack the very important issues.
I am pretty sure that most residents of Alaska have lain awake for many nights wondering when Juneau was going to settle the problem of front license plates……
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