Maine Vanity License Plate Law May Loosen
There may be a new law on the HRIZN when it comes to vanity license plates in Maine. Because of a law change in 2015 that loosens the rules on what plates can say may lead to more ‘OMYGOODNS’ type plates.
Messages deemed to naughty before may now be allowed according to Matt Dunlap, Maine’s Secretary of State. Dunlap has the say over what goes on vanity plates and says fighting words will remain banned but others may have to be allowed.
More and more states have been facing lawsuits from motorists who say their vanity plate is their right to free speech. In Maine the vanity plate law changed after a breast cancer survivor requested the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon plate series to say ‘BQQBS’.
That plate started a conversation between the Secretary of State’s office and the attorney general’s office and the Civil Liberties Union and found by being language police the state was skating on thin ice. The language that allowed the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to reject questionable messages was deleted.
A person who has a vanity plate request denied will have to make a specific request directly to the secretary of state’s office for reconsideration. It’s unlikely the state will ban vanity plates altogether because of the money they bring in each year for the state’s highway fund.
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