Texas: Denied Personalized License Plates
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| Submitted | March 2, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Adam Steinbaugh
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
With respect to motor vehicle license plates:
1. If one is kept, a copy of the current list of prohibited or automatically denied vanity or personalized license plates.
2. A copy of any list of requested vanity or personalized plates denied in 2021 or 2022.
3. For any denied application for vanity or personalized plates, a copy of the application and any correspondence sent to the applicant. This request is limited to denials after January 1, 2022.
4. If a system is maintained for soliciting or receiving complaints concerning vanity or personalized license plates, a copy of any complaint received in 2021 or 2022.
5. If any vanity or personalized license plates have been revoked since January 1, 2021, any records related to the revocation.
6. A copy of any statute or regulations concerning what combinations of vanity or personalized license plates are permitted or prohibited.
7. A list of all personalized or vanity license plates now in circulation. Alternatively, a list of such plates issued since January 1, 2018.
8. A copy of any directions, guidelines, or training materials concerning review of vanity or personalized plates provided to staff members responsible for reviewing such applications.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Adam Steinbaugh
From: Department of Motor Vehicles
Thank you for contacting the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Records requests<https://www.txdmv.gov/open-records> must be submitted through one of the following methods:
Email
Submit requests by email to the TxDMV Office of General Counsel at OpenRecords@TxDMV.gov<mailto:OpenRecords@TxDMV.gov>.
Online
Submit requests online through the department's Public Access Link (PAL) at https://openrecords.txdmv.gov/.
Mail or In person:
Submit requests in person or via U.S. mail to:
Open Records
Office of General Counsel
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
4000 Jackson Avenue
Austin, TX 78731
Best regards,
Adam Shaivitz
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
(512) 465-1484
Adam Shaivitz || Public Information Officer
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Government and Strategic Communications Division
Email: Adam.Shaivitz@TxDMV.gov<mailto:Adam.Shaivitz@TxDMV.gov> Media Line: 512-465-1484 Direct: 512-465-4210
Tell us how we're doing. Complete our customer satisfaction survey<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/intGSC>.
From: Department of Motor Vehicles
Good afternoon,
Below and attached please find the response to your requests for information (#22-1407 and #22-1423).
Best regards,
Wendy
Wendy Cook || Media Office
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Government and Strategic Communications Division
Email: media@TxDMV.gov<mailto:media@TxDMV.gov> Media Line: 512-465-1484
With respect to motor vehicle license plates:
1. If one is kept, a copy of the current list of prohibited or automatically denied vanity or personalized license plates.
There only a few combinations that are hard coded in our system to automatically reject an application (see attached "Invalid Letter Combinations"), the majority would either be repeated requests for plate combinations that were already denied via a manual review process. (Also responsive to PIR 22-1423).
2. A copy of any list of requested vanity or personalized plates denied in 2021 or 2022.
See attached for denials processed and prepared as lists for 2021.
3. For any denied application for vanity or personalized plates, a copy of the application and any correspondence sent to the applicant. This request is limited to denials after January 1, 2022.
We would not have the actual applications. Once denied, the customers would have 20 days to appeal, then they would be responded to within 30 days. We cannot provide anything that is currently going through the approval process, and for ones that end up as denied, this would involve substantial costs for both pulling and redacting any records. A small sampling can cost over $1000.00.
4. If a system is maintained for soliciting or receiving complaints concerning vanity or personalized license plates, a copy of any complaint received in 2021 or 2022.
See #3, this one would also involve extensive costs for both pulling and redacting any records.
5. If any vanity or personalized license plates have been revoked since January 1, 2021, any records related to the revocation.
See response to #3, all records for revocations would also incur costs in addition to any records related to denials and complaints.
6. A copy of any statute or regulations concerning what combinations of vanity or personalized license plates are permitted or prohibited.
See https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=43&pt=10&ch=217&rl=45 and https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.504.htm
7. A list of all personalized or vanity license plates now in circulation. Alternatively, a list of such plates issued since January 1, 2018.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) is prohibited from releasing personal information from the motor vehicle record by the Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). DPPA is both federal statute (18&U.S.C. Section 2721) and state statute (Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 730). Since the Registration and Title Systems (RTS) database contains important, secure personal data it is treated in a confidential manner. Only requesters who certify the intended use of the information is for a permitted use may have access to the privacy protected personal information contained in RTS. Release of personal information must meet specific criteria: governmental agency to perform its functions as mandated by law, civil action, criminal action, etc.
8. A copy of any directions, guidelines, or training materials concerning review of vanity or personalized plates provided to staff members responsible for reviewing such applications.
See attached as also responsive to PIR 22-1423 with in-house procedures following these guidelines: For the policies and procedures handling banned words, symbols or ideals for custom motor vehicle license plates, please see the attached "Personalized License Plate Guidelines and Restrictions", which is also available on our website at https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license-plates as well as on the My Plates website at https://www.myplates.com/faqs
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Invalid Letter Combinations
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From: Department of Motor Vehicles
Good morning,
As communicated in the response on March 18th that covered your two requests, PIR 22-1407 and 22-1423, the procedures and the list of automatically rejected letter combinations were previously supplied.
Per our policies and procedures, there are a number of guidelines for personalized plates and as such we do not keep a list of "banned" plates. Once a request has been rejected the combination will show as not available to any new applicant.
Thank you,
Wendy Cook
Wendy Cook || Media Office
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Government and Strategic Communications Division
Email: media@TxDMV.gov<mailto:media@TxDMV.gov> Media Line: 512-465-1484
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