Dear PAOLMA Members,

This morning the House Transportation Committee considered and voted out HB 1509 sponsored by Rep. Barry Jozwiak (R-Reading) by a vote of 19-6.  All 15 Republican committee members were joined by Democrat committee members Donatucci (Philadelphia), Neilson (Philadelphia), O’Mara (Springfield, Delaware County), and Warren (Bucks) in passing the legislation out of committee.

As you know, HB 1509 was written to mandate a 2-in-1 vehicle sticker to demonstrate legal registration and physical inspection of every vehicle in PA which would be placed on the rear license plate.  In a compromise between Transportation Committee Chairman Tim Hennessey

(R-Pottstown/Elverson) and Mr. Jozwiak, and in order to garner more rank-in-file support, Mr. Hennessey offered a “gut and replace”

amendment to HB 1509 which changed the legislation to a simple mandate that a registration sticker needed to be affixed to the license plate.

Inspection stickers shall remain where they are currently required by law. That amendment was passed by the Committee on an 18-7 vote with all Republicans and Democrats Donatucci, Neilson, and Warren voting in favor of the amendment.  Rep. O’Mara stated later in the meeting that she supported the final bill but had voted against the amendment because she actually supported the concept of a 2-in-1 sticker.

Committee Minority Democrat Chairman, and former PennDOT employee, Mike Carroll (Hughestown) vigorously debated in opposition to the bill using the typical hackneyed arguments proffered by PennDOT for close to a decade.  The removal of stickers saves PennDOT $3 Million per year, stickers are an inconvenience to the consumer, consumers cannot get a sticker if they renew registration or register on-line on the PennDOT website (which is incorrect),  many other states have eliminated the use of license plate stickers (also incorrect), and stickers are stolen and clipped from plates forcing drivers to pay more money for duplicates.

Republican committee members Rep. Doyle Heffley (Weissport) and Rep.

John Lawrence (West Grove) made cogent, impassioned, and even personal arguments for bringing stickers back to the license plates.

Thanks to all of the PAOLMA members who have contacted committee members in the past few days to educate them about this important issue and this legislation.  We encourage you to now go back to each representative you communicated with and personally thank them for their support of the HB 1509 and for their vote to send the bill to the Floor of the House for consideration.  Only Democrats Mike Carroll, Ed Gainey, Sara Innamorato, Steve Kinsey, Kyle Mullins, and Mike Schlossberg did not support passage by voting “No”.  Saying “THANK YOU” is an important component of the legislative process and we cannot stress enough how important it is for all of us to thank our friends and the supporters of HB 1509.  We encourage you to do so soon.

HB 1509 will now proceed to the House Floor for a vote.  It must receive consideration on three days in the House.  First Consideration occurred this afternoon and a final vote will be held on Third Consideration.  Such has yet to be scheduled by House leaders.

Representative Jozwiak immediately began working with our Association today to convince House Republican leaders to bring the bill up for a Floor vote soon.  In the coming days we will communicate how you can help “whip” rank-in-file member votes in support of HB 1509 to assure passage in the House.

Congratulations!!!  Today was a good day for PAOLMA and our membership.  The Committee vote was another important step in the legislative process, and while there is plenty of work yet to be done on this legislation, we are proud of your efforts and thank you for the great work that has been done to reach this important milestone!

The PAOLMA

Board of Directors