Chesapeake & Coastal Bay Plate – Updated Design and Distribution Plan
Updated:
Date: July 18, 2024
Bulletin: Dealers and Tag & Title Agents
From: Nikki Charlson, Deputy Administrator, Central Operations
PURPOSE
To advise dealers and tag and title agents about an updated design of the commemorative Maryland bay license plate, the distribution plan, and implementation tasks.
UPDATED PLATE DESIGN
In collaboration with State Senator Mary Beth Carozza (District 38), Maryland Coastal Bay Programs, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the MVA updated the design of the commemorative bay plate to reflect efforts to protect coastal bays as well as the Chesapeake Bay. The words “& Coastal Bays” were added to the text along the bottom of the plate. Adding these words wrapped the text to a second line. The new plate design is shown below.
DISTRIBUTION PLAN
The updated plates will be available to the public starting Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Certain dealerships and tag and title agents will receive an initial shipment of updated plates the week of July 22, 2024. The dealerships and tag and title agents receiving their initial shipment the week of July 22 are those located in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Harford, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Prince George’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties with a current inventory of bay plates. Motor Car Courier will deliver the initial shipment of plates – 1 box of 25 sets of plates.
Dealerships and tag and title agents in the remaining counties will receive the existing bay plates until the current inventory is gone.
Branches in the jurisdictions listed above will receive their initial delivery the week of July 22, 2024, and will begin issuing the updated plates starting on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. On July 23, 2024, customers will again be able to request a personalized Bay Plate on myMVA and receive the updated plate.
BACKGROUND
The first bay license plate was launched in 1990 and was one of the first specialty license plates in the country. In 2004, a second design was unveiled, and in 2018, the third design was unveiled, which won an international design award from the American Association of License Plate Collectors. Building on the 2018 redesign, this modification emphasizes the importance of the Coastal Bays, which is a beneficiary of Bay Plate revenue. As of July 16, 2024, there are over 370,000 active Bay Plate vehicle registrations, or 7% of all Maryland vehicles.
The majority of the revenue from the license plate flows through the Chesapeake Bay Trust to
hundreds of not-for-profit community-based grantees every year who want to lead and own their own projects such as wildlife habitat improvement work, water quality restoration projects, education and awareness projects. Over the last ten fiscal years, the Chesapeake Bay Trust received $31,650,446 from the bay plates. The Chesapeake Bay Trust uses this funding to
empower communities who want to play a role in protecting and restoring natural resources to take local, on-the-ground action to protect the environment.