Anyone who doesn’t like the look of the latest Wyoming license plate has more than 20 specialty plates to choose from, even if most of them look similar.
The new University of Wyoming license plate is one of several specialty plates available through the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Buying a specialty plate costs more than the standard $150, but the extra cash goes to the organization benefitting from the plate.
Wyomingites can show their support for veterans, wildlife, firefighters, radio amateurs and other causes with their specialty plates. As of November 2024, 21,230 specialty plates have been issued in Wyoming.
Establishing a new specialty plate can be a lengthy process that isn’t always successful, and there might be a limit on how many will ever be available in the Cowboy State.
“It’s not that common to get a new specialty plate in Wyoming,” said Taylor Rossetti, deputy director of WYDOT. “It takes significant effort, but it’s a way for organizations to prove how much support they have.”
Compared to other states, Wyoming’s menu is pretty bare. The Cowboy State is next-to-last in the number of available specialty plates.
Special Process
In Wyoming, specialty license plates are established by the Wyoming Legislature. Before WYDOT starts designing and printing a new plate, it needs to gain enough support in both houses and a signature from the governor.
“All specialty license plates are created and supported by a backing statute,” Rossetti said. “An entity or group would have to find an interested legislator or group of legislators and go through the legislative process to be established.”
WYDOT currently has 19 specialty plates, with two more newly established plates available soon. The new rodeo-themed plate will support rodeo programs at the University of Wyoming and Wyoming community colleges, while the search-and-rescue plate will benefit search-and-rescue teams throughout Wyoming.
Some specialty plates, like the Pearl Harbor Survivor and Veteran plates, require proof of qualification to be acquired. Some only cost an additional one-time fee at purchase, while others, like the Wildlife Conservation plate, have an annual $50 renewal fee paid with the vehicle’s registration.
“The Wildlife Conservation plate raises funds that largely go to building highway overpasses and underpasses,” said retired federal ecologist and grizzly conservation advocate Chuck Neal. “That money goes to a very worthy cause.”
The Wildlife Conservation plate raised over $300,000 in 2020, which was invested in projects that improve Wyoming’s roadways and reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife.
Legislative support is the biggest hurdle agencies must overcome to establish a new specialty plate. Rossetti said finding a sponsor can be challenging, let alone getting majority votes in the House and the Senate.
“If you can’t find a sponsor, you can’t even have a discussion about a bill,” he said. “I believe the Donate Life plate was unsuccessful on its first run and passed on the second run. It depends on the will of the body, and sometimes they’re not in favor of adding a new plate.”
Fewer People, Fewer Options
The website Beautiful Public Data published a database of all 8,331 license plate designs available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of 2023. Wyoming has never offered many specialty license plates, especially compared to the rest of the nation.
Maryland had the most variety, with 989 designs for Maryland residents to choose from. Wyoming, as of 2023, had 36 designs. That placed it second-to-last, between Alaska’s 44 and Hawaii’s 14 designs.
Maryland residents could get plates supporting the American Sewing Guild, the state Beekeepers Association, and barbershop quartet singers. Colorado has specialty plates benefitting epilepsy research, the Denver Nuggets, the Boy Scouts, and the non-profit Friends of Dinosaur Ridge, which preserves an important dinosaur track site near the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.
Tennessee residents can pay to have Dolly Parton on their license plate (supporting the Dollywood Foundation for Children), and Arizona residents could support Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers by buying a plate adorned with the likeness of Alice Cooper.
Even Wyoming’s established specialty plates are on an eight-year “probationary period” once they’ve cleared all the legislative hurdles. Rossetti said a minimum of 1,000 specialty plates from each design must be purchased in each eight-year plate issuance cycle to ensure it endures.
“If the plate doesn’t sell that many during that cycle, WYDOT cancels it, and it’s not offered for the next cycle,” he said. “The legislature sets those numbers, and WYDOT tracks them.”
The most popular specialty plate in Wyoming is the Veterans plate, featuring the insignia of the buyer’s branch of service. As of November 2024, over 7,800 Veteran plates have been issued. The next top sellers are the University of Wyoming (7,086) and Wildlife Conservation plates (2,768).
Rossetti said the State of Wyoming has established four new specialty plates in the last four years. That’s a windfall by Wyoming’s standards, but there could be a limit to how many plates can realistically be offered in the Cowboy State.
“We have a limited population in Wyoming, so it’s possible that the number of successful specialty plates we can sell could be self-limiting,” he said. “If you're only selling five or 10 plates of one design, is it worth going through the effort to do all the work to create a new plate?”
The Steamboat Supreme Standard
When a new specialty plate is established, WYDOT designs the plate to comply with state standards. The agencies that benefit from the proceeds also get input on the design.
“We worked with Wyoming Game and Fish, the Muley Fanatics, and other non-governmental agencies to design the Wildlife Conservation plate,” Rossetti said. “Certain federal standards need to be followed when it comes to the layout, but we have discussions, bat around some ideas, and come out with the final product.”
Wyoming’s specialty plates are the most leftist thing many Wyomingites will willingly put on their vehicle. Rossetti said most plates have the insignia of their benefitting organization on the left side since the State of Wyoming has a design mandate for the central spot.
“The bucking horse and rider is generally prescriptive to the center of every Wyoming license plate to create uniformity,” he said. “That left side of the plate is where the symbol or something representing the entity is typically placed.”
The bucking horse makes Wyoming’s plates more desirable as collector’s items, and the new rodeo plate was approved to specifically counter a request from PETA to remove the iconic image. Still, it limits the creativity that can be applied to each specialty plate.
There might not be a lot of variety and variation in Wyoming’s specialty license plates, but that’s not bad. Rossetti sees the scarcity of specialty plates as a way for organizations to gauge their statewide support.
“The Legislature sets standards that’ll stick,” he said. “I think they’re trying to say that if you have people that support your cause, prove up a little bit and see how many of these things you can sell.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
