Assemblyman to propose tea party specialty plate

AMARGOSA VALLEY - Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, announced Friday that he would be requesting a bill for the 2011 Legislature to establish a specialty license plate for Nevada that would allow citizens to express their support for the tea party movement. Similar efforts are already underway in Texas and Virginia.

"The tea party movement isn't so much a political party movement as it is a revitalization of our nation's founding spirit regarding the limited role government should play in our lives and embrace of state sovereignty and individual liberty," said Goedhart in a release. "It's as American as apple pie and I think it would be great if Nevadans had an opportunity to express their support for those founding principles on a specialty license plate."

Goedhart's proposed "Don't Tread on Me" license plate would bear the rattlesnake image and yellow background of the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag, which has become the unofficial symbol of the tea party movement nationwide.

According to Nevada state law, all requests for specialty plates must be submitted to the Commission on Special License Plates for approval. According to DMV guideline, proposed specialty plates "must generate financial support for services to the community relating to public health, education, or general welfare."

"It would be my intent to partner up with a non-profit organization to raise funds to print and distribute to high school students pocket Constitutions similar to the one Sen. Harry Reid referred to in his debate with Sharron Angle last month," Goedhart said. "I can't think of a more important educational program than to help familiarize the next generation of patriots with our country's original Contract with America."

Nevada law only allows the DMV to issue a total of

25 specialty plates at any one time and is currently at the 25-plate maximum with

15 plates on the waiting list. Organizations that do not maintain an established minimum number of plates risk having their plate discontinued. Goedhart said he also would research the possibility of increasing the number of specialty plates currently allowed by law.