Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504 larry.campbell@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612 Division of the Budget http://budget.kansas.gov
Larry L. Campbell, Director Laura Kelly, Governor


January 23, 2020


The Honorable Richard Proehl, Chairperson
House Committee on Transportation
Statehouse, Room 581B-W
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Representative Proehl:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for HB 2444 by Representatives Williams and Francis
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning HB 2444 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
HB 2444 would create the blackout license plate and would allow Kansas residents to be
issued a plate beginning January 1, 2021. The plate would be for a vehicle with a gross weight of
20,000 pounds or less. Issuance would be subject to a $35.00 annual payment which would be
deposited into the Local Roads Improvement Fund (LRIF). Expenditures from the LRIF,
administered by the Secretary of Transportation, would be made for the purposes of providing
state money for a cost-share program between the Department of Transportation and participating
cities and counties for modernization and expansion projects. Participating cities and counties
would provide local funds to match state funds from the LRIF at a minimum of $1.00 of local
funds to a maximum of $3.00 state funds.
The Department of Revenue indicates the new license plates would be exempt from the
$40 special plate application fee. All plates would be produced and mailed directly to customers
after purchase. The cost for a large size digital plate is $7.34 to print and ship, while a small size
digital plate costs $5.96 to print and ship. The bill still requires the guarantee of 500 plates to be
produced and sold. According to statute, every sponsoring organization, in order to create and
issue a specialty license plate, is responsible to pay up to $20,000 in initial production costs and
production of specialty plates cannot begin until the Department of Revenue has a list of at least
500 initial customers, however there is no sponsor identified for this new plate. The Department
of Revenue further indicates that the bill would cost the agency $17,965 in administrative costs
associated with system changes, testing and other administrative expenses.
The Honorable Richard Proehl, Chairperson
Page 2—HB 2444

The Department of Transportation indicates that the bill would not have a significant fiscal
effect on expenditures and is unable to estimate the revenue from the $35.00 fee. The Division of
the Budget notes that it is also possible for revenues and expenditures to stretch over a period of
fiscal years because of the nature of producing and issuing license plates.
The League of Kansas Municipalities and Kansas Association of Counties states that is not
possible to predict the amount of plates that would be sold. Therefore, they are unable to estimate
what the fiscal effect would be. Any fiscal effect associated with HB 2444 is not reflected in The
FY 2021 Governor’s Budget Report.


Sincerely,

Larry L. Campbell
Director of the Budget


cc: Ben Cleeves, Transportation
Lynn Robinson, Department of Revenue


Statutes affected:
As introduced: 8-1