Three new designs join the selection of specialty license plates from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Specialty plates are available for a $15 issuance fee for non-personalized plates and an additional $25 tax-deductible donation which is transferred to the sponsoring organization. And at each annual renewal, plate holders will pay the annual $25 donation and the regular registration fee.

Donations from the following new plates will go to support the organizations’ goals:

• “Nurses Change Lives” license plate will go to the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives, Inc.
• “Help Cure Childhood Cancer” will go to the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, Inc.).
• “Scouting Alumni,” with a decal for either “Boy Scout” or “Eagle Scout”, will go to the non-profit Boy Scouts of America National Foundation and will be distributed to local Wisconsin councils.

In addition, motorists may personalize specialty license plates. A $15 personalized plate fee is required each year in addition to the regular annual registration fee and donation. A handy online tool checks whether the personalization is already in use (Personalized Plate Lookup). WisDOT may refuse to issue, or may recall after issuance, a request that may be offensive to good taste or decency, misleading or may conflict with the issuance of any other license plates. It can take 6-8 weeks for the manufacturing and mailing process before the plates arrive.

A complete list of specialty plates offered by Wisconsin DMV is available at http://www.dot.state.wi.us/drivers/vehicles/personal/special/index.htm

Specialty plate process explained

The requests for these three new plates were submitted before the Authorized Special Group license plate process which began in March 2016 with Act 227. Under the new process, groups must pay a $15,500 fee for development costs and collect signatures from 500 Wisconsin residents who intend to purchase the special plates. If authorized, the group must maintain 500 valid special plate registrations after three years, or DMV will discontinue issuing the plates.

In an effort to raise public awareness, when a group applies for a specialty plate, DMV invites individuals with comments or concerns to fill out a special group plate review. This public comment period is open for 30 days. All these comments are then passed to a legislative Transportation Committee for final decision on the plate’s status.

DMV now has 47 different specialty plates designs.

Only the website with .gov is the official state website. Others with .org and .com are not official and may have extra charges for forms or list information that is dated or incorrect. In addition to the expanding services on its website, WisDOT connects with customers on Facebook (www.facebook.com/WisDOT) and Twitter @WisconsinDOT.