By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
The Ohio Department of Public Safety has abandoned its efforts to require residents to pay for new license plates.
DPS Director Tom Charles told members of the Ohio House’s finance committee Wednesday that he would not be offering what he called a “dumb idea.”
“No, you’re not going to hear any more from me [on the issue],” he said. “That was a suggestion, and I’ve had a number of calls, but it’s not hidden anywhere. It won’t be. Unless you all put it in, I don’t think you’ll see it.”
In its initial budget proposal to Gov. John Kasich, DPS suggested requiring motorists to replace their license plates every seven years, at a cost of $10.
Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, asked Charles about the issue Wednesday, noting that he didn’t see any language in budget documents on the topic.
Charles said he offered the idea of requiring changed plates because aged sets are harder for law enforcement to read. But he said he is no longer pursuing the change.
Charles did say that he continues to support requiring two license plates on vehicles registered in Ohio.
Legislation introduced in recent general assemblies would eliminate front license plates.
Comments
Kudos to Todd Franko and Vindy staff for bringing this "dumb idea" to light in a recent editorial. Without publicly highlighting this issue, I'm confident this "dumb tax" would have slipped through the budget.
While I don't agree with periodic mandatory license plate replacement I do feel that replacement of severely damaged and extremely faded plates should be mandatory. I've seen license plates in use that would have been impossible to read standing still much less at highway speeds. For all our sakes I think we need to give law enforcement officers a fighting chance to do their job. If you can't take reasonable care of your plates you need to ante-up the crummy 10 bucks.