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What is it about Nebraskans and the slab of aluminum we bolt onto the back of our cars, the license plate?
For some reason, we Cornhuskers get emotional over the design of the state’s plates. There are gripes aplenty.
“It’s too boring.” “You can’t see the graphic.” “It doesn’t represent our state.” “It doesn’t inspire people to visit there.”
Nebraskans’ opinions about license plates are almost as strong as those about the second-string quarterback for the Huskers. Why isn’t that guy starting?
A couple years back, a columnist with a website called “beautifulpublicdate.com” counted 8,331 different styles of license plates across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Some commemorate military service, others sports teams or universities, still others special causes, like cancer prevention or wildlife conservation, or occupations, like farmer, nurse and railroader.
Dolly Parton is on a plate in Tennessee, and rocker Alice Cooper appears on an Arizona plate. There are plates that celebrate barbershop quartets and the National Speleological Society, those who study and protect caves. I looked it up.
In Nebraska, I counted 40 different styles of “speciality” or “organizational” plates, which, according to that 2023 column, puts our vertically challenged state among the five states with the fewest license plate styles.
The top place for plates back then was Maryland, with 989 different kinds. The biggest loser in the plates race was Hawaii, with only 14 styles of license plates. They must be too busy surfing out there to get worked up over this issue.
In the past, then State Sen. Ernie Chambers – the self-proclaimed “Defender of the Downtrodden” – would trod all over efforts to add new styles of license plates.
“Why waste our time with this,” the well-muscled legislator would roar. “The purpose of these plates is for identification, not for advertising or marketing or awareness.” (Some do confuse those video plate readers used on toll roads and by law enforcement.)
But, after a fellow senator, partly in jest, got a bill passed to establish a “mountain lion conservation” plate, Chambers ended up getting one himself. He was a defender of mountain lions, too, and the plates, back in 2019, generated more than $200,000 for studies of the big cats.
Fast forward to today, and our State Legislature is on the job and seeking to address our poor plate performance. One recently introduced bill would create a “Space Force” plate, commemorating our newest branch of the military, another would honor female military veterans. One proposal would establish license plates for each of the state’s three state museums, while another would create a “Back the Blue” plate to support law enforcement.
Nebraska already has a “Husker” license plate, but Blair Sen. Ben Hansen’s bill would produce a “Big Red” plate, with a scarlet background and cream-colored numbers.
My favorite proposal is from Lincoln Sen. Eliot Bostar which would allow two, new “Iconic Design” plates: one black with white numbers, the other white with black numerals.
Full disclosure – I’m a purchaser of the mountain lion plate, mainly because it’s more attractive than our white-and-blue standard issue plate, where you need a high-powered telescope and bright lights to make out the artistic, State Capitol-inspired background design.
But my favorite among a small license plate collection I have is a black Nebraska plate from 1956 that simply says, “The Beef State.”
Black seems to still be beautiful. When Iowa created a plain-Jane “blackout” plate in 2019, it exploded in popularity. Now, more than 700,000 Iowans have the black plates, which is more than 10 times any other specialty plate.
I don’t know about you, but Iowa seems to have our number when it comes to football these days. Maybe that’s true with license plates, too.
Paul Hammel has covered the state for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was a reporter for the Nebraska Examiner.
