Alaska drivers will solely have to show a single license plate on their autos after Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Home Invoice 163 into legislation final week.
The invoice was written with completely different necessities for business and noncommercial autos. Alaskans will want one license plate on the backs of their private vehicles, trailers, motorhomes and all-terrain autos, alongside a registration sticker. For big business autos, the one license plate might be up entrance.
Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Huge Lake, championed the thought of ending entrance license plate necessities via a distinct invoice as a strategy to make a “surgical” funds lower. The Division of Motor Automobiles estimates that it’s going to halve its annual license plate prices by giving out one per driver, saving the state of Alaska $332,000 per 12 months.
The Alaska Auto Sellers Affiliation supported the change, saying entrance license plates are “cumbersome,” and that some automotive fashions don’t help them. The affiliation additionally wrote that entrance plates can intervene with new security radar programs.
McCabe famous that no less than 20 different states require solely a single license plate, and he mentioned that comparatively few “fix-it tickets” are issued in Alaska for drivers and not using a entrance plate. In response to the state Division of Public Security, 9 citations have been issued in 2021 for all license plate infringements.
Alaska State Troopers Capt. David Wilson instructed legislators that drivers not having a entrance license plate “is unquestionably a violation that we don’t ticket fairly often.”
However there have been some public security issues raised throughout legislative debates. Sergeant Jeremy Conkling, president of the Anchorage Police Division Staff Affiliation, testified to the Home Transportation Committee that cops “routinely” depend on entrance license plates throughout visitors stops, and that they assist determine drivers who may very well be driving drunk or medication or concerned in additional heinous crimes.
“I strongly really feel the potential price saving is much outweighed by the lower in effectivity and effectiveness of public security, and the elevated hazard to our cops,” Conkling mentioned via written testimony.
Lt. Eric Olsen of the Alaska State Troopers described comparable advantages for legislation enforcement officers of getting the second plate when requested to testify by the identical legislative committee, however he mentioned that the Division of Public Security would stay impartial on the invoice.
Ending the rear license plate requirement for business autos was drafted by Sen. Robb Myers, a North Pole Republican, who works as a truck driver exterior of the legislature. He mentioned that the entrance plate is the one used when vans are weighed and that the rear plate is much less essential as a result of “more often than not, it’s not able that’s simple to see, anyway.”
McCabe’s invoice was mixed with one other invoice in the course of the remaining frenetic day of the legislative session. The unique laws was launched by Rep. Calvin Schrage, an Anchorage unbiased, to permit digital signatures on car title transfers.
Beforehand, title transfers wanted to be signed in “ink,” however automotive sellers and lenders mentioned permitting that to occur digitally would modernize and streamline the title switch course of, significantly for individuals shopping for vehicles remotely.
“This occurs a couple of may count on due to the quantity of autos that we promote to rural communities not accessible by highway,” mentioned Marten Martensen, proprietor of Continental Auto Group, a automotive dealership in Anchorage. “On this occasion, we should ship unique paperwork to the shopper earlier than we are able to finalize their buy.”
The choice to supply digital signatures on title switch paperwork comes into impact in November, the license plate change got here into impact instantly after Dunleavy signed the invoice. Ken Truitt, a spokesman for the Division of Administration, mentioned directors on the DMV are understanding how that new signature system may very well be carried out.