By Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois drivers could soon be able to register license plates for cars and trailers every two years instead of each year with two bills advancing in the General Assembly.
The state Senate sponsor said it would save taxpayers money and be more convenient.
House Bill 4259 and Senate Bill 1505 would give motorists the option of getting a two-year vehicle registration, instead of having to get a new sticker every year. Both measures passed their respective chambers unanimously.
State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, said the idea came from his father “coming into my house in January and he was very frustrated.”
“I’m like, ‘what’s the matter?’ And he had been trying in the bitter cold to put that sticker on his plate in sub-zero temperatures and it just wouldn’t stick on right,” McConchie said. “And he said, ‘You know, I wish we could just buy a license plate for multiple years at a time’.”
Why only two years?
“That’s required because the EPA has the emission tests standards in Chicago and East St. Louis,” McConchie said. “And they do that every two years.”
Both measures would also allow for trailers to be licensed for up to five years.
McConchie said the measure will help reduce some of the postage costs for the Secretary of State’s office.
“During the budget impasse, to save money the Secretary of State’s office actually stopped sending out postage,” McConchie said. “It’s one of the biggest line items in the Secretary of State’s budget.”
During the start of the more-than two-and-a-half year budget impasse in 2015, the Secretary of State’s office reported postage costs for registration renewal notices was more than $450,000 a month. The department suspended the mailings as a cost savings measure, but later fired the reminders back up when lawmakers passed piecemeal budgets.
“We are pleased to work with the sponsors of the legislation to offer customers a two-year vehicle registration option for license plates,” said Henry Haupt, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White.
The measures do not not apply to large commercial vehicles.
