While the state of Wisconsin currently offers more than 90 specialty license plates — including 13 devoted to the individual University of Wisconsin campuses — Marquette is one school yet to have a plate.
After requests from alumni, State Rep. Pedro Colon, a 1991 Marquette alumnus, and State Sen. Jeff Plale, a 1992 Marquette alumnus, decided to sponsor legislation that would establish a specialized Marquette plate.
“I love Marquette. I think we need a plate,” Colon said.
Colon began work on the bill about a year ago, he said, but it only made movements through the legislature recently.
It passed the Assembly Transportation Committee on Jan. 21 by a 12-0 vote and was approved by the full Assembly Jan. 28. The corresponding Senate bill is now being considered.
If approved and signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, plates could be available for purchase six months later, said Mary Czech-Mrochinski, Marquette’s director of governmental and community affairs.
The Marquette plate would cost a total of $90 — $75 for the initial registration fee and $15 for the specialized plate issuance fee, said Carson Frazier, legislative liaison in the Division of Motor Vehicles at the state Department of Transportation.
“We will work with people from Marquette to come up with a design,” Frazier said. “(It) will look like most of our standard plates.”
Most specialty license plates have a noted trademark on the left side of the plate, along with the organization’s name at the bottom of the plate.
The Green Bay Packers plate remains the most popular specialized license plate in Wisconsin. At of the start of 2010, there were 15,882 Packers plates on the road, Frazier said. As a fundraising plate, it requires an annual $25 tax-deductible donation, which goes toward maintenance and operations at Lambeau Field, according to the DOT Web site.
Unlike other specialty plates in Wisconsin, the Marquette plate would not be used for fundraising. Those plates require an annual contribution fee on top of the $90. To cover DOT costs, Marquette will fund the initial production cost of the plates or $11,800, whichever is less, according to the bill.
The second most popular license plate is the Endangered Resources plate, with 15,065 plates on the road as of Jan. 1. Of the University of Wisconsin plates, which were created in the late 1980s, the University of Wisconsin-Madison plate is the most popular, with 6,348. The remaining 12 campus plates total 1,119, Frazier said.
While there is no specified issue date for plates if the bill is passed and signed by Doyle, Colon said, “I’ve requested the first plate out of the press.”