Lawmakers plan to roll back changes to registration tags, specialty license plates in BMV bill

Proposed bill language that would increase the requirements for organizations to qualify for specialty license plates is likely to be changed by a Senate committee next week. (License plate images courtesy Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Photo illustration by Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Language in a broad Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) bill that could do away with registration stickers and make it harder for organizations to qualify for specialty license plates is likely to be dialed back, per a top state senator.

Also in the works are significant amendments to a statewide road funding bill that seeks to head off anticipated transportation funding shortfalls — mostly by boosting local fundraising.

It’s not yet clear what those changes will exactly entail, however. Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield, said in the Senate transportation committee on Tuesday that he plans to release amendments on Friday, “which will give all the interested parties time to digest what we’re talking about doing.”

Additional testimony on the amendments will be allowed at next week’s meeting before the committee takes any votes, Crider confirmed. If approved, both bills will still have to clear the Senate Appropriations Committee before advancing to the full chamber.

“These two bills are important, and we want to make sure that we try to get them right,” said Crider, who chairs the Senate transportation committee.

The current draft of House Bill 1390, the BMV-specific legislation, would permit the agency to sunset physical registration stickers and instead transition to a fully-electronic system. Bill author Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, said Tuesday that Hoosiers could print their registration documents at home, “saving the state money on mailing and the registration form itself, along with the sticker.”

A fiscal analysis said the anticipated savings are $2.75 million per year.

Regarding registration tags, Crider said one of his upcoming amendments “will take that portion out” altogether.

“It’s an important tool for law enforcement,” Crider said. “I’ve had several reach out to me, and I know from my experience (in law enforcement), that is one of the tools used frequently.”

As written, the measure additionally increases the amount of signatures required  to get a specialty license plate. Indiana offers the unique plates for nonprofit organizations, colleges, military branches and other groups to help the organizations raise funds and awareness for particular causes.

Current law requires 500 signatures to be collected “in no particular amount of time” before a plate application can be submitted for review, Pressel noted. His bill proposes an increase to 1,000 signatures that must be obtained during a single calendar year.

“This just raises the bar a little bit,” and reduces the amount of time BMV staff spend evaluating hundreds of pages of applications, he continued. The state has so far approved 146 specialty plates, just shy of the 150-plate limit in Indiana Code.

These two bills are important, and we want to make sure that we try to get them right.

– Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield

The senator worried whether the specialty place changes would preclude worthy applicants. He pointed to All Pro Dad, a state-funded fathers initiative, which Crider said “has struggled to achieve the 500 signatures number, even after two or three years of trying.”

“Moving from 500 to 1,000 is a pretty big jump on the specialty license plates, and we already have some groups that are right on that bubble of 500 — and that’s an important source of revenue,” he continued. “We’ll continue to talk about that. There may be another way to kind of limit the number of new applicants we have coming in without jumping that drastically.”

BMV pushes for other bill proposals

The bill additionally seeks to allow the BMV to sell “blackout” license plates, which feature black backgrounds and white lettering.

Cody Eckert, the agency’s legislative director, said the plates have been successful in other states like Kentucky, Minnesota and Iowa. There’s no current equivalent in Indiana, he said. But if allowed, Hoosiers would have “a crisp and popular plate alternative.”

Pressel further emphasized to the Senate panel that blackout plates would provide the state with “really simple” additional revenue that could total into the millions.

To qualify for a specialty license plate in Indiana, an organization must:

• Be a nonprofit or similar group

• Demonstrate statewide impact

• Have at least 500 plates registered each year

• Pay an application fee ($15,000 for a new plate)

Organizations must send an application to the BMV, submit a plate design, and meet renewal requirements to maintain their specialty plate.

Each specialty plate typically costs motorists an extra $40 — $25 of which goes to the sponsoring organization, and $15 to cover state administrative costs.

Representatives from multiple nonprofit groups told an interim transportation committee last fall that specialty plates had the potential to net their organizations thousands of dollars per year and “priceless” exposure for their causes.

Various other sections of Pressel’s BMV bill address salvage titles and commercial driver’s licenses.

But Eckert said language around blackout plates — as well as a provision to require a real-time insurance verification system — are top-of-list for the agency.

The BMV sends over 100,000 notices each year to drivers requesting proof of insurance and provides 90 days for Hoosiers to show evidence of financial responsibility.

“Inadvertent suspensions arise, however, when drivers fail to receive notice or the BMV fails to receive the certificate of compliance from the insurance company. And this causes understandable frustration for Hoosier drivers that can be prevented with real-time insurance verification,” Eckert said. “(This bill) allows Indiana to create an instantaneous method of verification of evidence of insurance, directly with the source of the information — the insurance company.”

Wheel taxes dominate road funding talks

Included in the present draft of a separate measure discussed Tuesday, House Bill 1461, is a $200 million cap on awards from Community Crossings, a popular matching grant program local governments can use to fund local road and bridge projects.

It would also require local governments to adopt a wheel tax to qualify for grant funds; expand the Indiana Finance Authority’s ability to issue bonds for road projects; permit the Indiana Department of Transportation to seek federal approval for toll lanes; and change local funding allocations based on lane mileage. The bill mandates, too, that local transportation taxes by 2028 and provides funding boosts to Indianapolis for secondary roads.

“There are a lot of options in this bill, some of them good, some of them bad. I’ve eliminated what I couldn’t get support for, and I will be the first to tell you I don’t have support for everything in this bill, but there is a need,” Pressel said before the Senate committee.

Hoosiers aren’t buying “gallons and gallons” of gas like they used to, stifling road funding revenue, he explained.

“We, along with our colleagues in all other states, are having the same conversation. How do we fund roads into the future? Should it come out of the general fund? I don’t believe that to be true,” Pressel continued. “I think we should have user fees. You pay for what you use, and the more you use, the more you pay.”

While testimony from local officials was mixed, many were united against a required wheel tax. The stipulation, several said, would not fully account for the spectrum of financial situations across Indiana municipalities.

Many requested the bill be updated to allow “more flexibility” for local governments. Crider said the Senate committee will take those calls into account as amendments come together.

“Several smaller units of government, or even larger units, are concerned about the language around requiring wheel tax. Some of them have tried to pass wheel taxes — they just can’t pass one. Some will never pass a wheel tax,” Crider said. “We’re going to look at a method to consider intensity of local input into the formula, if that makes sense.”

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