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Get ready to remove plastic covers from your license plate
Sierra Vista Herald ^ | staff

Posted on 03/29/2017 12:28:10 PM PDT by SandRat

PHOENIX — Got one of those plastic covers or films over your license plate?

Be prepared to get out your screwdriver or razor blade to take it off.

Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed legislation making it illegal to put any covering or substance on a plate "that obscures from any angle the number, characters, year validating tabs or name of the jurisdiction issuing the plate.'' The measure takes effect 90 days after the end of the session, meaning probably not until sometime in August.

Violators would be subject to civil fines decided by a judge.

The issue has been at the heart of the debate now for more than a decade over the issue of photo radar.

That's because many of these coverings are deliberately designed to keep the plates of offending vehicles from being clearly photographed. And foes of the practice sought to keep the plate coverings legal to defeat the cameras.

Prior efforts by other lawmakers went down to defeat in 2004, 2008 and 2010.

But that issue of photo radar did not arise at the hearings this year. Instead, Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said what's behind his legislation are concerns that bad guys will get away because police officers and witnesses to crimes won't be able to read the license of the vehicle.

He noted that SB 1073 has the backing of several different organizations of police officers. And Farley said this has nothing to do with whether cameras can catch speeders and those who run red lights.

"The problem is that these things don't just hide the photo radar flashes,'' he said. "They hide low-angle sun as well.''

Farley said that should be obvious to anyone who commutes early or late in the day and tries to read the license plate of the vehicle in front.

"The ones that have these coverings on them, you can't read them at all,'' he said. And that, said Farley, has gotten the attention of police officers and sheriff's deputies.

"If we're going to require license plates at all in order to identify the cars to law enforcement and witnesses at crimes, we should make sure they're not obscured,'' he said. "Otherwise we're giving an unfair advantage to criminals.''

The big surprise to some lawmakers was the need for the bill.

"I thought it was already illegal,'' Sen. Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said during a hearing on the legislation. She wasn't the only one.

"Then why did I get a ticket for it?'' piped up Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix.

Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, who chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, responded he was at a loss to explain.

"Some visionary cop gave you a ticket that's not legal yet,'' he quipped.

"It was so embarrassing,'' Brophy McGee responded.

The senator did not recall the specifics of the citation. But there already is a law that motorists "shall maintain each license plate to it is clearly legible.''

That language clearly deals with situations where the plate is not visible from any angle. This new law covers instances where the question of visibility may depend on from where it is being viewed


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: licenseplate
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1 posted on 03/29/2017 12:28:10 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: SandRat

Government will not be denied their ticket revenue.


2 posted on 03/29/2017 12:30:35 PM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: SandRat

So I can’t drive with the gate down on my pickup now if I’m carrying long stuff? D’oh!


3 posted on 03/29/2017 12:31:21 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: SandRat

Thugs use drive out tags.


4 posted on 03/29/2017 12:31:24 PM PDT by wrench
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To: SandRat

OK, says “covering or substance” on a plate, so the pickup gate should still be OK.


5 posted on 03/29/2017 12:32:09 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: SandRat

Pull the cover down fare enough and you’ll see “Phoenix Arizona 1949.”


6 posted on 03/29/2017 12:32:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
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To: SandRat

And if someone is passing through from out of state?


7 posted on 03/29/2017 12:32:53 PM PDT by rdl6989
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To: SandRat

I never understood the purpose of those things


8 posted on 03/29/2017 12:32:58 PM PDT by AppyPappy (Don't mistake your dorm political discussions with the desires of the nation)
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To: SandRat

But it’s still okay to cover your face at an anti-Trump riot.


9 posted on 03/29/2017 12:34:12 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: SandRat

But I can still cover all my home furniture with plastic covers, right? ;)


10 posted on 03/29/2017 12:34:15 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Trump20162020

When they can’t collect enough money from the existing laws they just make new ones.

Eventually everybody is caught in the net. Kinda like our tax code.

Bastards all.


11 posted on 03/29/2017 12:34:32 PM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: SandRat

Can you make a cover that is transparent to the human eye but opaque to the wavelengths observed by the gestapo cameras? Or are they the same?


12 posted on 03/29/2017 12:35:21 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: SandRat

13 posted on 03/29/2017 12:35:34 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: SandRat

How dare they attack my FREEDOM!


14 posted on 03/29/2017 12:35:54 PM PDT by babble-on
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To: SandRat

15 posted on 03/29/2017 12:36:11 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: Blue Jays

Any criminal planning a large-scale heist is going to visit a shopping mall and exchange plates with another vehicle of similar make and model. They are only meaningful among law-abiding people in all reality.

16 posted on 03/29/2017 12:36:23 PM PDT by Blue Jays ( Rock hard ~ Ride free)
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To: SandRat

Mud is absolutely great. By the way , RED LIGHT CAMERAS have been ruled unconstitutional. Never pay that ticket— ever. Nor do you have civil liability or debt responsibility IMO.The government cannot prove who was driving. To Hell with big brother.


17 posted on 03/29/2017 12:37:12 PM PDT by WENDLE ("Sanctuary" cities break federal criminal law!!-- JAIL!!)
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To: Still Thinking

OK, says “covering or substance” on a plate, so the pickup gate should still be OK.
**************
As are license plate mounts for motorcycles that put the plate to the left side of the rear tire, usually on the swingarm and safe from red light cameras high and to the right side.


18 posted on 03/29/2017 12:37:25 PM PDT by Neidermeyer (Show me a peaceful Muslim and I will show you a heretic to the Koran.)
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To: SandRat

19 posted on 03/29/2017 12:37:27 PM PDT by moehoward
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To: SandRat

Illegals use to not require a license plates, insurance or a drivers license.


20 posted on 03/29/2017 12:38:58 PM PDT by Leep (Cyclops Network News (CNN). The Most Trusted Source Of Fake News.)
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