CERES, the state’s on-line environmental information system, in cooperation with the Department of Motor Vehicles, has developed a new user-friendly web site that enables users to search a database of 1.6 million existing personalized California license plates to determine the availability of their selection before submitting a request.
The web site is accessible on the Internet at http://plates.ca.gov through the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System created by the California Resources Agency. Within a month after it was publicly introduced Jan. 2, the web site had received more than 718,000 inquiries or “hits.”
If one’s choice is available, the user can download a DMV order form and mail it in with the $41 Environmental License Plate fee.
Fees for personalized plates support the state Environmental License Plate Fund, which helps to pay for environmental improvement projects. The fund also draws money from the sale of special plates for Lake Tahoe, the California Coastal Commission, and Yosemite National Park.
California pioneered the issuance of personalized license plates. Since their inception in 1970, more than 2 million customized plates have been ordered and more than $500 million has been raised for environmental programs such as purchase of land for preserves, studies of endangered species, and public education.