FEBRUARY 3, 2025|
Photo – Wyoming license plate – Bigfoot99 file photo
State Legislature is considering a bill requiring all license plates to be issued by the Department of Transportation instead of the county treasurer’s office.
On Thursday, January 30th, House Bill 237 was placed on General File, meaning the bill is now available for consideration by the entire House.
Titled License Plate Issuance, House Bill 237 places the burden of issuing license plates on the Wyoming Department of Transportation. If passed, residents will no longer be able to pick up their new plates from the county treasurer’s office. Instead, the treasurer will issue a certificate of registration and send the payment information to WYDOT, who will have 30 days to send a license plate in the mail. The same also applies for validation stickers.
Carbon County Treasurer Lindsey West took to social media to criticize House Bill 237, saying that the bill will remove the convenience of receiving your plate or validation sticker from her office.
In her post, Treasurer West also wrote that WYDOT will have to spend over $1 million to hire 10 to 15 people to do the same work the county treasurer’s office is doing now and urged residents to contact their representatives and ask them to oppose the bill.
The Wyoming State Legislature shows that the fiscal impact of House Bill 237 is indeterminable but admitted that it will increase WYDOT’s duties and may impact agency spending or staffing requirements.
Additionally, license plates will no longer be cycled out every eight years. Instead, motorists will keep their current plates until the numbers and letters are no longer legible.
House Bill 237 is expected to be brought up for further discussion by the legislature this morning.
