New Tennessee license plate to feature rolling hills design

“We wanted a plate that was easy to read and represented the state of Tennessee,” the governor said after showing the new design at the Tennessee County Clerks Association meeting. “I think the rolling hills are part of every section of Tennessee.”

Bredesen said he offered suggestions for the new plate and chose the design from about 20 that were presented to him.

Tennessee is written in a contemporary script across the top. The plate also includes “The Volunteer State” and a small state outline as the dash between the numbers and letters.

“It’s beautiful,” Unicoi County Clerk Ruby McLaughlin said. “It’s a vast improvement over the last one.”

The plate, which goes on sale in 2006, also is the first digitized version for the state. Numbers and letters no longer will be embossed on the plate, but will appear to be printed instead.

That technology expedites production of the plates, which are made by state prisoners in West Tennessee, said Paula Shaw, director of the title and registration division of the Department of Safety.

A barcode also is located at the bottom of the plate which will help county clerks with inventory and eventually will aid law enforcement with identifying cars, Shaw said.

The new design replaces a 2001-issued plate decorated with a sun rising over a green state map and the now abandoned slogan “Tennessee sounds good to me.”

License plate designs must be changed every five years but may be delayed for a year if the state is having budget problems, Shaw said.

Tennesseans must pay $10.50 for a car title and $24 for standard license plates, as well as local wheel tax fees. Specialty plates include an additional cost.

The Department of Safety expects to issue 5.4 million of the new auto plates next year, spokeswoman Melissa McDonald said. An additional 8 million plates go to motorcycles, trailers and commercial vehicles and 3.8 million vehicles carry one of about 150 specialty license plates offered in the state.