A new Washington state specialty license plate honoring Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks was authorized last May/April by the Washington state legislature and will be available for purchase in January 2, 2006. Since legislation was already in place regarding specialty license plates, the Washington's National Park Fund simply followed the steps outlined by on the state's Department of Licensing web site.
Under the legislation, organizations that want to ensure a specialty license plate can either pay an initial up front fee of $30,000 to the Department of Licensing or collect 2,000 applications. The Washington's National Park Fund chose to pay the $30,000 in order to guarantee that the program would move forward. The new license plate will cost $40 for an initial plate and $30 for renewal plates.
Seventy percent of the proceeds from the sale of the plate will support preservation programs in Washington's National Parks, while the remainder will cover Department of Licensing costs. The first 25 plates (numbers 0001 to 0025) were auctioned to supporters of Washington's National Park Fund beginning on November 1 for a two week period. Opening bids for each plate began at $200 and taken on-line. Over 15,000 direct mail pieces and 9,700 email messages were sent out publicizing the event. The local radio station and newspaper also helped to promote the auction. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response, the auction was extended for an additional week. On the first day alone, 42 individuals placed over 140 bids totaling over $9,000.
The new license plate's image was developed by the Washington National Park Fund, and designed by Fund trustee David Salesin and selected from over 25 designs by the board of the Fund. The final design was approved by the Specialty License Plate Review Board in December, 2004.
Once the Funds' application was completed and submitted, the Washington Special License Plate Review Board reviewed the special license plate series application and confirmed that the Fund submitted all required documentation. The application was presented to and approved by this Board.
The Fund's license plate was one of 35 plates approved last year. The State has since placed a two-year moratorium on issuing specialty license plates.
Contact: Betsy Edwards, Executive Director of the Washington's National Park Fund. 206-770-0627