Lancet Jades
02-20-2004, 12:50 AM
License plate rules come up in Senate
By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer
MONTPELIER -- First Paula Perry of East Montpelier lost her court fight to have a Vermont license plate that read "SHTHPNS."
Then Carol Ann Martin of Wallingford won her court case and her vehicle now sports a green plate displaying the word "IRISH1."
After two court fights in recent years, and constant barrage of requests for vanity plates that are sometimes clever, other times questionable, officials at the Department of Motor came to the Legislature looking for guidelines.
Friday the Senate will vote on a bill that would establish the kinds of words and abbreviations that would never be stamped on a special license plate.
The Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 37,500 vanity plates to Vermonters who pay an extra $30 a year to display these special tags. The plates net the state more than $1 million.
Perry, who now has a plate with no message, said she hopes lawmakers have come up with fair rules. "I think they ought to give it a lot of thought when they do it, because they didn't before."
In 1997, Perry had selected the "SHTHPNS" message for her plate because she was going through some tough times -- a divorce and two back surgeries. She said she viewed her license plate as an inspiration. "Things happen, just keep going," she said.
After the plate was issued, state officials received a complaint and tried to get it back. Perry refused and took the case to federal court. A federal appeals court ruled Perry didn't have a constitutional right to a potentially offensive vanity plate.
Perry said she's still upset that her plate was yanked, but someone else is driving around with a plate sporting the same swear word in French.
Bonnie Rutledge, commissioner of motor vehicles, said this week that she wasn't aware of a plate with a French swear word -- but it could be out there.
"What we have not done is go out there and pull back plates if no one has complained about them," Rutledge said.
Unlike Perry's case, the department never issued Martin the IRISH1 plate when she first requested it. Officials said newly developed rules banned references to ethnic heritage. The state Supreme Court reversed the denial, saying the department overstepped the authority it had been granted by the Legislature when it started banning categories of words from license plates.
Republican Senate Leader John Bloomer of Rutland argued Martin's case in court. He has also advised fellow lawmakers on how to fix state law so the lucrative special plate program isn't jeopardized by more lawsuits.
"From a state perspective, you need to be definitive," Bloomer said. "The more discretion there is, the more subject the statute is to challenge."
By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer
MONTPELIER -- First Paula Perry of East Montpelier lost her court fight to have a Vermont license plate that read "SHTHPNS."
Then Carol Ann Martin of Wallingford won her court case and her vehicle now sports a green plate displaying the word "IRISH1."
After two court fights in recent years, and constant barrage of requests for vanity plates that are sometimes clever, other times questionable, officials at the Department of Motor came to the Legislature looking for guidelines.
Friday the Senate will vote on a bill that would establish the kinds of words and abbreviations that would never be stamped on a special license plate.
The Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 37,500 vanity plates to Vermonters who pay an extra $30 a year to display these special tags. The plates net the state more than $1 million.
Perry, who now has a plate with no message, said she hopes lawmakers have come up with fair rules. "I think they ought to give it a lot of thought when they do it, because they didn't before."
In 1997, Perry had selected the "SHTHPNS" message for her plate because she was going through some tough times -- a divorce and two back surgeries. She said she viewed her license plate as an inspiration. "Things happen, just keep going," she said.
After the plate was issued, state officials received a complaint and tried to get it back. Perry refused and took the case to federal court. A federal appeals court ruled Perry didn't have a constitutional right to a potentially offensive vanity plate.
Perry said she's still upset that her plate was yanked, but someone else is driving around with a plate sporting the same swear word in French.
Bonnie Rutledge, commissioner of motor vehicles, said this week that she wasn't aware of a plate with a French swear word -- but it could be out there.
"What we have not done is go out there and pull back plates if no one has complained about them," Rutledge said.
Unlike Perry's case, the department never issued Martin the IRISH1 plate when she first requested it. Officials said newly developed rules banned references to ethnic heritage. The state Supreme Court reversed the denial, saying the department overstepped the authority it had been granted by the Legislature when it started banning categories of words from license plates.
Republican Senate Leader John Bloomer of Rutland argued Martin's case in court. He has also advised fellow lawmakers on how to fix state law so the lucrative special plate program isn't jeopardized by more lawsuits.
"From a state perspective, you need to be definitive," Bloomer said. "The more discretion there is, the more subject the statute is to challenge."