PA Could Enter License Plate Digital Age

PENNSYLVANIA — Motorists in the state could one day be able to have digital vehicle registration plates.

Republican sate Rep. Greg Rothman of Cumberland County plans to introduce legislation that would move Pennsylvania beyond metal plates. Digital registration would allow owners to change the look of their plates that could include multiple vanity insignias purchased from the state, indicate an Amber Alert or reveal if the vehicle has been stolen.

"Digital license plates allow vehicle owners to have unique features that metal plates cannot," Rothman said in a statement.

Rothman said a move to digital plates also could improve the accuracy and effectiveness of tolling. That's important because the Pennsylvania Turnpike lost $104 million in uncollected tolls from June 2020 to May 2021, according to an internal turnpike commission report the Associated Press obtained last year.

Rothman contends tolling would improve because digital plates would have a built-in radio-frequency tag.

He said that digital license plates, already approved in California, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois and Texas, also would allow vehicle owners to update registration via an app that enables the plate to instantly update itself at little or no cost to the state.

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