We are happy to announce that the effort to obtain Choose Life specialty license plates is alive and well. As many of you know, a pro-life coalition headed up by IFI board member Jim Finnegan, president of Illinois Choose Life, has worked tirelessly for seven years to get the Choose Life license plates produced for Illinois motorists.
According to the State-Journal Register the Secretary of State’s office shows more than 70 specialty license plates already approved, not counting separate plates for many state colleges and universities. There are more than 44,000 environmental specialty plates, and more than 30,000 firefighter specialty plates.
Legislation to authorize the Choose Life specialty plate will be introduced during the 96th General Assembly in January 2011. In addition to the legislative approval, we must have a minimum of 1,500 orders before it is produced by the Secretary of State’s office.
Take ACTION: Click HERE to download the petition for the Choose Life license plate. Fill out the contact information requested and indicate your intent to purchase the Illinois Choose Life license plate when they become available. Ask your friends, neighbors and relatives to sign on and then mail it to IFI.
(Standard license plate registration is $99. Specialty plates are an initial $99 plus an additional $40. Renewal costs are only $99 plus the $27 annual renewal fee.)
Background
Twenty-three states now allow residents to purchase a Choose Life license plate which has raised $12.4 million for adoption agencies and pregnancy centers across the country. In the ten-year history since Florida introduced the Choose Life plate, a total of $7.3 million has been raised to benefit adoption agencies, homes for unwed mothers and crisis pregnancy centers.
The goal is to gather more than 25,000 signatures of Illinois citizens who would purchase the plate when available for one or more of their vehicles.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see that within a five year period Illinois could lead the country with sales of the Choose Life plate,” said Jim Finnegan. “I would think that 50,000 wouldn’t be an unrealistic number of vehicles on the roads of our state. With the realistic figure of $25 additional cost for the plate, and the state taking $3, simple math would indicate $150,000 for cash strapped Illinois, and over one million dollars for adoption agencies each and every year.”
Please join this effort to help encourage the life affirming choice of adoption in Illinois by signing the petition and by indicating your intention to purchase a Choose Life license plate when they become available.
