Pa. lawmaker wants license plate stickers reinstated, saying state loses millions without them

Some Pennsylvania lawmakers don’t want new bridge tolls to help fund PennDOT projects, but one lawmaker thinks some old technology could help the funding woes — license plate registration stickers.

PennDOT stopped issuing the registration expiration stickers in January 2017 to save money. The department estimated the move would save $3.1 million in the first year of not printing and mailing out the stickers.

State. Rep. Barry Jozwiak, who represents parts of Berks County, said since then PennDOT has lost “considerable revenue,” about $51 million in three years.

Jozwiak thinks license plate stickers are part of the answer to the transportation funding problem and plans to reintroduce legislation requiring PennDOT to begin issuing the stickers again.

“The absence of the expiration stickers has hindered the performance of both law enforcement and PennDOT,” Jozwiak said in a memo to colleagues in the beginning of the year. “Issuing the registration expiration sticker on the license plate will ensure that all vehicles in the Commonwealth are properly registered and insured, and will restore the lost revenue that PennDOT claims it so desperately needs.”

The lawmaker also said the lack of stickers means police don’t have a “significant tool” previously used to legally identify and stop unregistered and uninsured vehicles in Pennsylvania.

Police and parking authorities commonly use license plate readers to determine registration status without stopping drivers. While insurance is required to register vehicles, the plate stickers do not indicate if a vehicle is currently insured.