Possible price hike on personalized plates would help WA wildlife

A gray wolf. (Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife)

If you’ve got a personalized license plate, it may surprise you to know that the money you paid for it went toward caring for and protecting wildlife in Washington.

That may help soften the blow of a price hike on plate renewals that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will ask lawmakers to approve next year.

Today, it costs $52 to buy a personalized license plate and $42 to renew each year. The agency will seek to boost the renewal fee to $52. A hike of $10 a year would generate an estimated $1.6 million per biennium, according to agency staff.

The state Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the request at its Aug. 9 meeting.

For several decades, the sale of personalized license plates has been the primary source of funding for the management of non-game wildlife – which are those that are not hunted, fished or trapped – such as peregrine falcons, pygmy rabbits, and killer whales.

State law requires $2 from each plate purchased and renewed be deposited into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Account to support the care and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned wildlife.

The rest goes into the Limited Fish and Wildlife Account. A portion, $10 per plate, is for management of wolves in Washington, including monitoring wolves, preventing wolf-livestock conflicts, and compensating livestock owners for losses from wolf kills.

By law, the remainder helps fund “preservation, protection, perpetuation and enhancement of non-game species” that are off-limits to hunting, fishing, or trapping. Some of these species are classified as threatened or endangered, according to the agency website .

There were 9,300 personalized license plates sold and 79,735 renewed in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. according to figures provided by the department. Fees associated with personalized plates totaled $7.85 million in the 2021-23 budget.

This proposal does not affect the cost of specialty license plates which feature a steelhead, bald eagle, killer whale, deer, elk or black bear.

Meanwhile, getting a personalized plate or specialty plate continues to be challenging due to “significant” production tie-ups. There’s no timeline for remedying the situation, per an alert on the state Department of Licensing website .

“Due to this delay, you may want to consider waiting to apply for a personalized or specialty plate,” reads the agency website.