DECEMBER 13, 2023:
The South Dakota Department of Revenue implemented a new personalized license plate policy on September 14, 2023. The new Department policy does not use the “offensive to good taste and decency” standard. The Department sent a letter in October 2023 to individuals who may have previously had their personalized plate application denied under the offensive to good taste and decency standard and informed them of the change in policy.
Individuals who were previously denied a requested personalized plate may reapply for that plate. The previously denied plate will be approved after payment of the required fees, compliance with all statutory requirements, and conformity with the newly adopted policy. Go to www.sdcars.org and click on “CK A PL8” to check the availability of specific plate options. The new policy can also be found on the Department’s webpage at www.dor.sd.gov.
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DECEMBER 12, 2023:
The state of South Dakota will no longer be putting the brakes on personalized license plate applications because they might carry “connotations offensive to good taste and decency.”
Under an agreement to allow judgment to be entered against the state, which was submitted for court approval Friday (Dec. 8, 2023), the state agreed to amend its personalized license plate law and the Motor Vehicle Division’s policy that infringed on the free speech rights of all South Dakotans.
The agreement comes after a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of South Dakota along with Manuel J. De Castro, Jr. of DeCastro Law Office, PLLC, of Sioux Falls, on behalf of Lyndon Hart. Hart’s free speech was stifled when his application for a “REZWEED” plate was initially denied as being allegedly “in poor taste.” Hart runs a business called Rez Weed Indeed that supports and promotes the legal selling and use of medical and recreational marijuana on Native American reservations. He intended for the requested REZWEED plate to refer to his business mission of promoting Tribal sovereignty.
The lawsuit challenged the arbitrary standards used by the Motor Vehicle Division to approve or deny personalized license plates. Under the settlement, the “carries connotations offensive to good taste and decency” standard is deemed unconstitutional and will not be applied to Hart or other people applying for personalized license plates moving forward.
“It’s dangerous to allow the government to decide which speech is allowed and which should be censored, especially when the law is already established around the topic by the Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals,” said Stephanie Amiotte, ACLU of South Dakota legal director. “While it’s tempting for some to classify this as an insignificant issue, this is about so much more than just a license plate. It’s about our First Amendment rights and we won’t allow the state to chip away our constitutional rights like this one piece at a time. We’re very happy we were able to obtain a complete victory for Mr. Hart and for the freedom of speech of all South Dakotans.”
As part of the judgment agreement, the state will make a public statement and include a note on the South Dakota Department of Revenue’s webpage that a new personalized license plate policy has been implemented and the “offensive to good taste and decency” standard is no longer being utilized. Any individual who was previously denied a requested plate may reapply and the denied plate will be approved after payment of required fees, as long as it meets the state’s other statutory requirements that were amended in September 2023.
A copy of the stipulated consent decree can be found here.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2023:
Personalized license plates can add a unique custom touch for many drivers, but the ACLU of South Dakota says state officials have put the brakes on some custom requests.
Staff attorney Andrew Malone says in refusing to grant some requests, the state Department of Revenue Motor Vehicle Division is “infringing on the free speech rights of all South Dakotans.” He says in the past five years, more than 30% of the personalized plates denied were rejected because they allegedly carried “connotations offensive to good taste and decency” – a standard Malone says is overly broad, vague and subjective.
Malone says although only a few characters long, vanity plates are often used to convey a meaningful expression of the driver’s personal message, identity, values or sense of humor. He says unfortunately, the state is censoring the free speech protected by the First Amendment and is inserting its own voice in the place of the citizens’ voices of South Dakota.
Malone says they are asking Attorney General Marty Jackley and South Dakota Department of Revenue Secretary Michael Houdyshell to direct the Motor Vehicle Division to approve all personalized license plate applications previously denied or recalled since Aug. 1, 2022. They’re also asking that the agencies “agree not to deny any future applications for that same reason.
Malone says the standards used by the Motor Vehicle Division are so arbitrary that it denied such plates as ‘HLDMYBR’ and ‘BEERMOM’ while approving ‘BEERRUN’ and ‘BEERMAN.’ He says it’s clear that the Motor Vehicle Division does not have adequate, lawful and constitutional standards in place to assess personalized license plates.
The 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals has ruled that license plates are a legitimate place for personal and political expression, and courts throughout the country have struck down laws similar to South Dakota’s.
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