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Rate the new Monarch Butterfly Specialty License Plate

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Illinois

* Press release…

After more than seven years, Illinois residents who placed deposits for the state’s Monarch Butterfly Specialty License Plate can finally redeem it, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced today.

The Monarch Butterfly License Plate is the first Universal Specialty Plate issued by the State of Illinois – even though the General Assembly approved it in 2016. […]

In 2016, Illinois lawmakers passed legislation to create a “universal” license plate to limit the number of specialty license plates – all designed differently and deemed problematic for law enforcement. At the time, there were 109 different specialty plates.

The legislation stated that any new charitable organization would need at least 2,000 Illinoisans to place deposits that benefitted an organization or charity before any new specialty plate could get issued. Furthermore, the new specialty plates would have a universal, standardized design, but include a decal on the left side depicting the cause or charity it supports.

The Monarch plate reached the necessary 2,000 deposits in 2018, yet it was never produced despite residents having already paid the necessary $10 to pre-order the plate. The money raised from Illinoisans’ deposits goes toward protecting the Monarch from extinction. […]

“Native pollinators, like the iconic Illinois State Insect, the Monarch Butterfly, play a critical role in preserving the biodiversity of our local ecosystems. The Illinois Environmental Council is proud to have played a role in recruiting over 2,000 Illinois Monarch protectors to sign up for the new license plate decal seven years ago, funding the state’s Monarch Habitat Fund,” said IEC Executive Director Jennifer Walling. “Today, we couldn’t be more appreciative of Secretary of State Giannoulias, his office and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for finally getting this project across the finish line and into the hands of Illinois’ many pollinator protectors.” […]

The $10 deposits are allocated to the Roadside Monarch Habitat Fund, which is part of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. If renewed, $23 of the universal special license plate renewal fee will benefit the fund. The Monarch Butterfly, Illinois’ state insect, is considered endangered.

The fund helps foster habitats to support the butterflies during their twice-yearly migratory journey from Mexico to Chicago with a goal to add 150 million new milkweed stems and other nectar resources to the Illinois landscape in the next 15 years.

* Here it is…

I love everything about this except the phrase “Protect Monarchs.” I think we fought a war of independence over that slogan. /s

Anyway, try to ignore my snark.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 10:56 am

Comments

God save The Queen

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 10:59 am
Going to ignore the snark, but I did laugh at it.
Plate looks great.

Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:02 am
Love butterflies and the plate. Well designed and great artwork. Rated A.

Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:07 am
A generic white plate that gets a small sticker… I don’t think it’s going to be popular as full plate color designs.

Though cops might find the numbers harder to read, the full coverage plate designs are themselves distinctive and narrow down the job of identification.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:10 am
“A generic white plate that gets a small sticker… I don’t think it’s going to be popular as full plate color designs.”

I was expecting more? They have a few very well-designed plates. I’m not sure why this one ended up with such a simple design.

Comment by NIU Grad Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:16 am
The plates had full backing from the Royal Family.

Comment by workingfromhome Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:17 am
I like it, not as cluttered as the regular plates- plain white with a butterfly picture looks nice.

Comment by Frida's boss Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:17 am
It will match nicely with the monarchs in my front grille.

Comment by Franklin Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:25 am
So it would only take 2000 people to get a plate with the CapFax logo and the words Bite Me under it?

Hmmmmm

To the actual question, it’s not bad, not bad at all. A bit of color would be nice, but I get it.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:36 am
It is a pretty plate. I wonder however if the logo could have been larger if the words “Protect Monarchs” were removed. In the comparison to the plate’s lettering, the image looks small.

Comment by H-W Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 11:47 am
I see red, italicized bold Helvetica text for the state name and black plate numbers, and think “That’s a Wisconsin plate.”

Comment by Roadrager Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 12:10 pm
Less text, more monarch

Comment by Jibba Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 12:34 pm
It seems pretty bland compared to the other speciality plates, but I guess that is what we get now that it is simple sticker rather than a full plate.

Comment by Butter Cow Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 12:41 pm
Our legislature ignored law enforcement’s requests to stop proliferating license plates over the years. As someone who ran plates all the time, it became a problem to know what plate type code to use to run some of these plates. Whats worse is some of the alphanumeric sequences were repeated for various plates, so if you ran the wrong plate type code you could get records showing the wrong owner and vehicle, or at worse hits on stolen vehicle, plate, missing or wanted persons.

Comment by thisjustinagain Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 1:06 pm
so hard to ignore the snark, which is great. Monarchs are colorful, this plate is dull.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 1:15 pm
At 25 feet it looks similar to an ISU Redbird plate.

Comment by Kayak Thursday, Nov 16, 23 @ 1:23 pm