State Rep. Concerned About Personalized Texas License Plates

A state legislator raised concerns that Texas’ dozens of personalized license plates will make it difficult for law enforcement officials to authenticate valid plates.

“Diversity sounds good to begin with, but I’m starting to get complaints from all across the state of Texas.” the head of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Joe Pickett said. “I think it’s interesting that a company, in their sample has a sign that says, ‘this is legal,’ meaning that the colors and the designs are so out of the ordinary, it looks like someone had it made at the state fair and put it on their car.”

Pickett’s comments echo those of the Texas Municipal Police Association, after the Department of Motor Vehicles approved 20 more specialized themes from the private vendor, My Plates. But officials with the El Paso Police Department said it’s not an issue for officers.

“Police officers in El Paso are in a unique situation in that we are a border community,” Det. Mike Baranyay said. “We have license plates that come from actually another country everyday.”

Baranyay argued that his officers are trained to distinguishes fake plates from the real ones.

“If there’s ever a question as to the legitimacy or the validity of that license plate, it’s really easy to check with the VIN number or the paper registration that the owner should have in the vehicle.”

Still, some born an bred Texas like Danny Cody say some Texas plates, like the one with the Oklahoma University logo, do cross a line.

“To have anything non-Texas on a Texas plate, that’s un-American.” Cody said. “That’s not true Texan.”