Auburn Club Special Tag License Plates in Georgia & The Road Ahead
The Atlanta Auburn Club wants to thank every Tiger in the state of Georgia who took the time to sign our petition and write their state senators, representatives and Governor Perdue to oppose HB 1165. It was an overwhelming response and a civics lesson that we were proud to lead. For years, much of the work on the Auburn Club tag was handled by a relatively small group of people --- members of our club board and legal counsel. So it was exciting to see how many people jumped to the cause statewide when the help of the masses was needed most.
The bill, HB 1165, which threatened the existence of the Auburn Club Special Tag license plate in Georgia, died in the Senate Public Safety Committee. It had been approved by the full House. But the Senate committee never held a public hearing on the bill --- we believe this was due, in part, to the campaign of opposition that spoke out against this legislation. We have heard the response took some lawmakers by surprise.
Obviously, we weren't the only alumni group fighting HB 1165. But the Auburn Family did offer one distinct advantage --- Auburn Tigers are statewide, not only in Atlanta. The coordination with other Auburn clubs in Georgia was fantastic!
Although HB 1165 died in 2008 --- we are not out of the woods by a long shot! We FULLY expect this legislation to rise from the dead as other alumni clubs seek to win approval of their tags. Tennessee and Florida State are among the other alumni groups which are actively seeking a tag in Georgia. Alabama wants one too.
Last November, when the Clemson tags first hit the streets, the AAC received several emails asking why that tag had the name of the university at the bottom, whereas our tag lists the county of residence. The Florida Gator tag also has the university. We asked the special tag office about this and were told that some rules had changed. But sources told our team that this "university" designation at the bottom of those tags was also a point of contention with some legislators.
We can update our tag design. But in light of the recent legislative effort to kill these special tags, we choose to keep our tag "as is" right now. Here's why:
HB 1165 was aimed at establishing "reciprocity" with other states. We saw and received emails from some Georgia lawmakers who contended that only the Gators and Auburn were affected by HB 1165 -- they hinted that Clemson wasn't affected because South Carolina had reciprocity.
The AAC can tell you that the Alabama legislature is considering a reciprocity bill. But "considering" doesn't mean it has passed. So the issue still requires vigilence.
Here is how our legal counsel explains it:
"My reading of the current Alabama law is that it is essentially the same as Georgia's current law. Once a reciprocal law is in place we will be insulated from the attacks on our license plates in the Georgia legislature, such as what occurred this year.
"Until then, our best defenses in the legislature remain: 1) that we got our tags as a specialty, Georgia -based group with no help from the university or the Alumni Association, and 2) that our tags are clearly not out-of-state university tags based on the application process that was conducted and the fact there is no "Auburn University" anywhere on the Auburn Club tag. These two issues may well assist us in being grandfathered in if this statute is reintroduced next year."
The Atlanta Auburn Club welcomes your comments on this issue. Our main goal is to make sure that we can keep our tag -- there are more than 10,000 of them on the road now and more are added every day. So please know that if there are any further updates on this issue, we will let you know.