If you are still waiting for your Great Salt Lake license plate, be patient. Despite hope that they would be ready by now, they won’t be out for a few more months.
That’s because the 2024 license plate revision law, which eliminated the requirement for a front plate, also established a License Plate Design Review Board. The board, which consists of Sen. Dan McCay, Rep. Jordan Teuscher and Natalie Randall of the Utah Office of Tourism, is still working on criteria before approving any new designs.
The law also did away with raised characters in favor of flat plates, opening up some design options.
“That also allows for a full-color plate, so things that haven't been contemplated before,” Teuscher said.
Instead of selecting an image to go on the left side of a white license plate, special groups can now submit a full-color design.
That’s what Senate Democrats have done with their Great Salt Lake idea. The proposed design depicts a blue lake with gray mountains in the background, a sandy beach in the foreground and an American white pelican flying on the side. The words “restore, preserve, protect” adorn the bottom.
Teuscher hopes the new standards will yield more attractive and popular plates.
“You've seen what's happened with the black license plate,” he said. “Imagine similar types of design that are very fresh, represent the state well, and people are going to want to get on their vehicle.”
The current proposed design for a Great Salt Lake license plate. (Courtesy Utah Senate Democrats)
The board is working to select a vendor that will help design license plate style criteria, he said. They want to finalize the standards before approving any license plates.
“Should the font style of Utah be consistent on every single plate, or should it be different? Should it always be the same color, or should it be different?” he said. “What font do you want to use for the individual characters and letters? Are there certain color palettes that are going to be approved or not approved?”
The delay for the Great Salt Lake license plate has nothing to do with its design. It just got caught up in the new process.
“It's been a little bit unfortunate for the Great Salt Lake plate because they felt like they had a design that I think is cool and unique,” Teuscher said. “But we wanted to make sure before approving that design that we were on the right path for everything else.”
Rep. Paul Cutler cosponsored the bill to establish the license plate, which passed in March 2023.
He said designers wanted to take advantage of the new ability for full-color plates, but he’s disappointed with how long it’s taken to get them on the road.
“Sometimes government delays frustrate all of us, and this certainly frustrated me,” he said. “But the Great Salt Lake's been here for a long time, and it's going to be here for a long time, and we have to take the long-term view.”
Per state code, funds from the sale of the first 500 plates will go to the Division of Motor Vehicles. After that, revenue generated by the plates will support the Sovereign Lands Management Account to preserve the Great Salt Lake watershed and ecosystem.
“We've put a lot of money toward getting extra water to the lake, trying to make it clean, trying to do other things to protect it,” Cutler said. “This is just one more small drop in the bucket that people can do to contribute.”
Teuscher noted that other plates, some of which “are almost clip art looking,” could be redesigned under the new law. With the new design standards and the creation of the review board, he wants the state to put its best foot forward.
“These license plates are the billboards of the state that go across the entire nation,” he said. “I think Utah is in a really prime spot to become kind of the leader and have some of the most attractive plates.”
This means the Great Salt Lake plate won’t be ready right away. Teuscher’s guess is a couple of months but he warned that the legislative session, which begins Jan. 21, could cause further delays.
