Eye On Boise

Senate kills bill for specialty license plate for EMS volunteers

Posted by Betsy

March 7, 2013 10:56 a.m. • 1 comment

The Senate has killed SB 1082a, Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll’s bill to create a new specialty license plate for volunteer EMS providers, a measure designed to recognize them and provide them easy access when they respond to accident scenes. Unlike most of Idaho’s specialty license plates, this one wouldn’t have raised funds for any cause; certified, active EMS volunteers would be the only ones who would qualify for the plate, for which they’d have to pay normal fees. The state’s EMS fund would have paid for the $3,000 set-up costs for the new plate; EMS officials asked for the plate as a way to recognize and recruit volunteers, whose numbers have been falling.

The Senate, some of whose members have often said they think Idaho already has too many specialty license plates, voted 15-20 on the bill, killing it. Click below for a report from AP reporter John Miller, who notes that after killing her bill, the Senate wished Nuxoll a happy birthday.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Senate, known for its adherence to decorum, killed a bill — and then cordially wished its sponsor “Happy Birthday.”

Republican Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll of Grangeville was pushing a plan to recognize volunteer emergency medical service providers with their own specialty Idaho license plate.

Nuxoll thought the bill would increase first-responders' presence in the community, give them better access to emergency scenes — and potentially help recruit new volunteers, whose numbers are falling.

But senators have grown stingy about creating more of these specialty plates.

Sen. John Goedde of Coeur d'Alene was frank: “There are too many.”

So the chamber voted 20-15 to reject Nuxoll's plan.

Minutes later, leaders pointed out Nuxoll was born on this date in 1951 — and encouraged senators to wish her a “Happy Birthday.”

Please keep it civil. Don't post comments that are obscene, defamatory, threatening, off-topic, an infringement of copyright or an invasion of privacy. Read our forum standards and community guidelines.

You must be logged in to post comments. Please log in here or click the comment box below for options.

comments powered by Disqus