ATLANTA – Senate lawmakers Thursday batted down a push to test digital license plates in Georgia that law enforcement agencies could turn off when a driver’s license plate has expired.
Originally, Senate Bill 149 sponsored by Sen. Randy Robertson only dealt with changing the practice of cars being automatically towed for having expired license plates or annual registration stickers, giving them a chance instead to keep their cars and pay a fee to fix any plate issues.
But tweaks to the bill added by the House that would legalize the display of digital license plates were opposed by a 24-29 vote in the Senate on Thursday.
Other states like California, Arizona and Texas recently passed legislation allowing cars to have digital displays instead of regular metal plates.
The idea would be to “give a state agency the ability” to turn off a plate’s digital display if it has expired, said Robertson, R-Cataula. That would make it easier for officers to identify violations.
A pilot program would be done first to test digital plates on certain vehicles, Robertson said. Other information like flash flood and amber alerts could also be shown on the display.
“Much more research has to be done,” Robertson said Thursday. “But it does gives us the opportunity to explore that alternative to the current license plates we have.”
The overhauled bill immediately drew skepticism from senators worried the digital plates would be too invasive.
Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, said the ability for a state agency to turn off the plates risked trampling on personal privacy rights and opening the door for governmental abuse.
“What that says to me then is that the government can track your vehicle wherever you are with respect to a license plate,” Jordan said.
Along with digital plates, the substitute measure filed last year in the House by Rep. Martin Momtahan, R-Dallas, would also permit vehicles to have mounts for cell phones or other electronic devices for hands-free use.
Several Republican senators joined Democrats in opposing the heavily amended bill, which would head to a closed-door conference committee if the House insists on passing its amended version.