Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams is asking state lawmakers to approve an “I Support Veterans” license plate.
Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, says Williams asked him to sponsor the bill after the Kentucky legislature created the plate last year there.
“There’s not something in our state to allow somebody just to express their support for (veterans) if they haven’t actually served themselves or been wounded in combat or those sorts of things,” Jenkins said.
West Virginia law provides two ways to create new license plates. The first is through a process where interested groups can get a certain number of guaranteed purchasers and submit the plan to the state DMV. The second is through the legislative process. Sen. Jenkins says Woody Williams opted for the latter.
“Rather than try and pick and choose between veterans groups to be the lead entity, “Let’s try the statutory approach,” Williams told Jenkins.
Sen. Jenkins says he knows license plate bills can start out small and then a lot of other interest groups add their ideas to the bill. He’s hopeful the support plate bill can move through without being stalled.
“This would be the first opportunity for non veterans to step up to the plate. We can do the yellow ribbons and things like that but this would be a great opportunity,” the senator said.
The bill could before the Senate Transportation Committee as early as this week.