FACT SHEET
"Washington Lighthouses" vehicle plate will raise funds
to keep lighthouses open and protect environment
Available for purchase: Starting Tuesday, January 3, 2006 at all vehicle licensing office locations. Visit https://wws2.wa.gov/dol/vsagents/ to find your local office. Once the local office processes the application, within two business days the plates will be mailed from the Olympia headquarters office.
Cost: $40 additional to any applicable license fees, at time of original purchase. Thereafter, $30 additional each year when the vehicle registration becomes due, to keep the plates on the vehicle, regardless of whether the plates have been owned for a full year. The Department of Licensing recommends renewing vehicle registration at the same time as purchasing the new special license plate, or waiting to purchase the plates when the registration is due. To determine the total cost due, contact your local vehicle licensing office
Tax-deductible portion: $28 of the original purchase price and annual renewal price is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution.
Lighthouses eligible to benefit: 25 percent of proceeds will go into a fund available to Alki Point, Browns Point, Burrows Island (NW Schooner), Columbia River Lightship, Destruction Island, Grays Harbor, Mukilteo, New Dungeness, Point Roberts, Point Robinson, Point Wilson, Swiftsure Lightship, Turn Point and West Point lighthouses, and to any others kept open to the public by non-profit, volunteer groups. The balance will support restoration, education and environmental work by the primary sponsor, Lighthouse Environmental Programs (LEP), headquartered at Admiralty Head Lighthouse on Whidbey Island.
About special license plates: State law allows non-profit groups to sponsor and receive proceeds from the sale of license plates depicting an illustration chosen by the group and approved by the Department of Licensing and the Special Licensing Plate Review Committee. LEP volunteers, helped by non-profit groups at several other lighthouses, gathered the required 2,000 signatures to create a new special vehicle plate for Washington residents. In 2005, legislators passed the enabling bill and the Governor signed it.
Where the money will go: Once the state has been reimbursed for the cost to implement this new law, lighthouse groups on Puget Sound and in coastal areas of Washington will use the funds for restoration and preservation projects, constructing educational exhibits and maintaining facilities open to the public. At Admiralty Head Lighthouse, LEP volunteers are working to restore buildings, develop high-quality exhibits and conduct environmental education projects. LEP's largest program, the nationally-acclaimed Washington State University Beach Watchers, trains a large corps of volunteers for community based educational and scientific work to protect the environment. In 2005 Beach Watchers began expanding to six other Puget Sound counties.
Information links: http://www.admiraltyhead.wsu.edu/licenseplate/ and, starting in 2006, http://www.dol.wa.gov/vs/specialtyplates/tr-spp.htm (to download the ordering form).
Who benefits: All who love Washington's lighthouses, the water and our state's rich maritime heritage, including the animals and the fish of Washington.
The art: A volunteer, Janet Orso of Whidbey Island, painted the image, which combines aspects of several Washington lighthouses and does not depict any specific lighthouse.
