SB 24: Department of Revenue Wants Black-and-White License Plates

In pressing fashion matters, the Department of Revenue is seeking the Legislature’s okee-dokee to start selling license plates with solid backgrounds.

Senate Bill 24 would add to the panoply of license plate designs available in South Dakota two new designs: “A solid white background plate with white letters and numbers” and “a solid white background license plate with black letters and numbers.” These plain plates would be allowed only on noncommercial vehicles—cars, trucks, vans, and motorcycles. On top of the regular licensing fees specified in SDCL 32-5-6 for regular vehicles and in SDCL 32-5-9 for motorbikes, the state would charge $100 for solid-background plates, remarkably more than drivers pay for personalized license plates (SDCL 32-5-89.3: $25 each year for cars, trucks, and vans; $20 for motorbikes) and for specialty designs like the Dignity plates ($10 admin fee). SB 24 would split the plain-plate fee: $25 from each plain plate would go to the license plate special revenue fund for making and distributing license plates, while the other $75 would go to the state highway fund.

The high fee strikes me as unusual: a simpler, plainer plate should cost the state less to design and produce. Plus, drivers do the state a favor by adopting plates that are much easier to read; one could argue the state should give drivers a discount for replacing our current muddy design with bold characters on plain black or white. At the very least, the plainest possible license plate should be cheaper than vanity plates, which require the state to comb through the dictionary looking for naughty words.

But evidently the Department of Revenue sees a chance to cash in on a growing craze for plain license plates. See Colorado:

Over the past few years, Colorado has started to reissue a number of historic license plate designs in solid red, blue, or black, as well as green mountains on a white background. The black plates, originally from 1945, have been by far the most popular. According to the most recent figures, there are now roughly 378,000 thousand vehicles with black license plates on Colorado’s roads.

To get them, car owners must pay a $25 upfront fee, plus an annual $25 fee. The money goes to support programs for people with disabilities.

“It’s become very popular,” said Benjamin Meyerhoff, the Colorado Disability Funding Coordinator, whose office is housed in the state’s newly created Colorado Disability Opportunity Office [Bente Birkeland, “Retro License Plates Are a Windfall for People with Disabilities. Now Lawmakers Are Eyeing That Money,” CPR News, 2025.03.17].

Minnesota:

Minnesotans are in love with their blackout license plates, with nearly a quarter million of them affixed to front and back bumpers.

The tags featuring block white letters against a black background are by far the top selling specialty plate of the 123 available in the Minnesota, and last year they blew past sales projections by nearly 90,000.

But who besides Gov. Tim Walz, who bought one of the plates in January 2024, is shelling out $15.50 (the price of a standard plate) plus a $30 annual fee for the privilege of owning one of the novelties?

Blackout plates have been extremely popular with middle-aged Minnesotans, who have snapped up the plates beginning with the letter Z at a rate faster than anyone. For every 10,000 residents between 45 and 54, about 770 now have a blackout plate, according to data from the Department of Vehicle Services, tracking plates issued and sold from January to December.

Adults over 65 bought them at the slowest rate of any age demographic, followed by younger drivers between 18 and 24.

…Owners of luxury BMWs bought blackout plates at a much faster clip, with 1,441 issued for every 10,000 registered vehicles. Cadillac, Jeep, Volkswagen and Lexus owners round out the top five with blackout tags among the 20 most common vehicles registered in Minnesota.

Buick drivers were the least likely to have them among drivers of the most common vehicle types registered in the state. When any model on the road is factored in, Lamborghini owners led the way, with 4 in 10 owners of the sporty car displaying blackout plates, the data showed [Tim Harlow, “Minnesota’s Blackout License Plates Have Been a Huge Hit. Here’s Who Is Buying Them,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2025.04.08].

…and Iowa:

The state’s “blackout” plates were an immediate hit with drivers when they were first released July 1, 2019. Four months later the simple design — white lettering over a black background — was the state’s most popular. Nearly 50,000 had been issued at that point, well more than the 30,000 University of Iowa plates issued.

Now, almost five years later, 585,772 of the state’s 4,605,643 total plates, about 12%, are blackout, according to Iowa DOT data from the 2023 calendar year. And other states have taken notice.

Blackout plates with the regular number-letter combination are $35, plus an annual $10 fee. Personalized versions cost $60, with a $15 annual fee [“Which Specialty License Plate Design Is Most Popular? In Iowa, the Answer Is Right There in Black and White,” KCCI-TV Des Moines, 2024.01.25].

Indiana, Kansas, and North Dakota started issuing blackout plates in 2025.This month Wisconsin launched two solid-background plates: white on black and black on butter-yellow.

People apparently like plain license plates, and I support making license plates easier to read (as, I’m sure, does Smokey, if not the Badnit). I’d suggest Senate Transportation entertain a motion to amend SB 24 to make the solid-background design the default, standard-fee plate and shift the extra $100 fee to all other personalized or specialty designs.