California Budget Crisis Fix Is In: Digital License Plate Ads

Unsure of what to do about its nearly $20b budget deficit, California is entertaining some pretty wild ideas. And no, not legalizing and taxing marijuana. According to Yahoo News, State Sen. Curren Price is introducing legislation that would replace license plates with digital versions which

would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen.

Yes, advertising on license plates. Ray LaHood’s distracted driving crusade be damned, California is on a mission to prove that the movie Idiocracy was right. Luckily there’s a slight hitch…

Obviously converting all of California’s 32m registered vehicles to digital license plates won’t be so cheap. At least, it wouldn’t be cheap if there were digital license plates available on the market. Which there aren’t. The bill would have California’s DMV work with firms like San Francisco-based Smart Plate, which is developing digital license plate technology but has yet to bring it to market. Except Smart Plate doesn’t especially want to be associated with the legislation. SP’s CEO tells Yahoo News

The idea is not to turn a motorist’s vehicle into a mobile billboard, but rather to create a platform for motorists to show their support for existing good working organizations

Senator Price, meanwhile, insists that other states are looking into this technology as well. But even he seems to realize that he may just be a little bit ahead of his time. He bleats

We’re just trying to find creative ways of generating additional revenues. It’s an exciting marriage of technology with need, and an opportunity to keep California in the forefront

On the forefront of what exactly, the reader is left to decide.