By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
A new bill granting Washington state family members of eligible military personnel and veterans the right to purchase Armed Forces License Plates officially took effect June 12—a right previously restricted to active duty, reserve, retired or honorably discharged veterans, or their surviving spouse.
The state Department of Licensing started issuing these specialty plates in 2006, each representing a different branch of the armed forces: Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, and the Washington National Guard.
The 2008 legislative session saw requests by a number of families to broaden these rights to family members, which eligibility rules identify as spouse, child, parent, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin. Eligibility also extends to members with stepfamily, foster, adoptee or in-law status.
Plates may be used in place of regular or personalized license plates for motor vehicles, including motorcycles, and the sales and renewals get funneled into a special stewardship account supporting programs that benefit state veterans.
“Not only does this allow families to support their veterans by showing their pride and appreciation, it will also generate funds to be used for the first state veterans cemetery in Eastern Washington and to serve homeless veterans,” Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs director John Lee said in a June press release.
Cemetery administrator and spokesman Richard Cesler of the WDVA said the state's current veteran population is 600,000. About 140,000 reside in Eastern Washington.
The west side may have the bigger presence, but the state “gets requests from all over the state to include more people” to purchase armed forces plates. Having these rights extended to members of families could mean more money available to support this yet-to-be-built cemetery, he added, but increasing sales has its obstacles.
One of those obstacles is promoting the plates to those 600,000 veterans.
“We've found that it's the same issue in just about every state,” Cesler said. The cemetery council has earmarked the exact number of plates to sell by the cemetery's groundbreaking next year and its opening date of May 31, 2010. Cesler said current sales are at about 9,250; by groundbreaking, on May 25, 2009, they hope to sell at least 12,000, and another 8,000 by May 31, 2010.
A license plate committee is currently focusing on strategies to increase sales, and some research is being done on what other states are doing to promote their sales. The number of specialty plates available prohibits the state Department of Licensing from promoting armed forces plates exclusively, Cesler explained.
To reach a bigger audience, promotions will need to include more than those through local veteran and American Legion outposts. One option being explored is the WDVA partnering with some of the area's larger auto dealerships. Soliciting annual auto shows was another promotion opportunity committee members are pursuing.
“It's all a matter of educating the right population who are going to be the ones purchasing these plates,” Cesler said.
Last week the committee discussed plans to feature displays with flyers for the plates at area businesses that gives information on how to purchase and what they're for.
Cemetery representatives attended National Cemetery Association conference in Washington, D.C., last month, where they learned the project would receive a grant for $9.5 million for cemetery construction. It's an amount Cesler said officials had always hoped for, the original grant being about $7.8 million. The grant will be awarded in August this year.
Eligible citizens can purchase Armed Forces License plates at any vehicle licensing office. Applications may be downloaded online at http://www.dol.wa.gov/forms/420500.pdf, and should be taken to the Department of Licensing when making the purchase.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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