Tucson CitizenTucson Citizen

Our Opinion: Ease law on license plates

Should this license plate frame lead to a $130 fine?

Should this license plate frame lead to a $130 fine?

The point has been made: License plates must be entirely visible – including the word “Arizona.”

So it makes sense for the Legislature to now dial back a strict law that went into effect Jan. 1.

Last year, a bill passed by the Legislature allowed police to stop any vehicle with the state name even partially obscured on its license plate. Fines could be as high as $130.

Now lawmakers are considering amending that. A motorist could be cited for the plate violation only if stopped for something else. And the fine for the first violation would be only $30.

There are good reasons for having license plates totally visible. But now that people understand that, it is reasonable to make the law less punitive while still keeping it in effect.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

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