Earlier this spring, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have established a Charlie Kirk license plate; the bill had won Republican support in the state Legislature.
In her veto letter, the governor wrote that while Kirk’s assassination is “tragic and a horrifying act of violence,” the bill inserted politics into a government function that should remain nonpartisan. GOP supporters, meanwhile, called the governor’s move partisan. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Jake Hoffman called the decision “hypocritical” and “deeply disappointing.”
The state currently has more than 100 specialty license plates — ranging from those for Arizona’s universities to its pro sports teams to causes like childhood cancer research, first responders and Alzheimer’s research.
To establish one, lawmakers and the governor need to OK it. Then, the cause or group behind it has to come up with a $32,000 implementation fee. The specialty plates cost $25, in addition to the standard vehicle registration. Of that $25, $17 goes to the group behind the plate.
Longtime lobbyist Kevin DeMenna with DeMenna Public Affairs joined The Show to talk about Arizona’s history — and future — with specialty license plates.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Kevin, I’m curious to get your perspective on the evolution of this concept of having specialty plates, from having just a few to now having a lot of them available.
KEVIN DEMENNA: Almost a million now. And it the evolution, all of this speaks to the approachability of our Legislature, class projects, plates from alternative fuels to Alice Cooper, universities, Army, Navy.
In 2025, we had 955,000 plates, but in 2022, that same number was 770,000. So, clearly there’s an appetite for these plates out there. The process is daunting, depending I guess on whether you’re ASU or your neighborhood club, but it takes $30,000, you’ve got to have that bank, but first, you must go to the Legislature and persuade 16 and 31 that this plate deserves to be part of the menu.
MARK BRODIE: So, you have some experience doing this. You worked on getting a license plate for Phoenix Rising, the soccer team here, passed.
I’m curious if that was any different than any of the other millions of bills that you’ve worked on over your career in terms of trying to get enough lawmakers to see the need for this particular license plate and convincing them to vote for it.
KEVIN DEMENNA: I think by and large, when this something like this and this the Phoenix Rising plate was a terrific example, soccer fans, particularly Phoenix Rising fans, thought this was a great idea. But at that stage, hardly anybody knows about it, and if I recall the transportation chairman at the time, soccer wasn’t his thing. But once it got a profile and became known, then it catches fire.
Some of these, however, are just they limp through the process and become law. By and large, it goes from class project to, I’m not sure who did it but for the Cardinals and for ASU.
MARK BRODIE: What do you make of the fact that this issue has become politicized? I mean, I wonder if you’re surprised with, you know, the question about should there be a Charlie Kirk license plate, for example? Like, is it was it kind of inevitable that this process, when you’re talking about causes and, you know, specific people in this case, that it it goes from being, you know, scouting or the Phoenix Rising or the Suns or ASU or UA or NAU to something that’s maybe seen as a little more political?
KEVIN DEMENNA: The answer is everything that happens at the Capitol is political. It’s a question of degree.
The Charlie Kirk plate in my opinion shouldn’t be treated any differently than the Alice Cooper plate, they each have a constituency. In this day and age, they’re fighting with each other. So, I don’t want to say it’s a beautiful aspect, but it’s an aspect of the legislative process that really requires you to occasionally step up and acknowledge that there are regular people out there that care about motorcycle clubs, Alzheimer’s, and this is their process, this is their gateway into raising a little bit of money and just being a part of Arizona’s government.
MARK BRODIE: I think the raising money aspect was one that troubled some of the critics of the Charlie Kirk plate though in the sense that that money in theory could have been used to influence elections whereas, you know, Alice Cooper’s charity is not looking to influence elections as far as I’m as far as I know or, you know, some of the other organizations that have these specialty plates. I mean, was that a fair criticism do you think?
KEVIN DEMENNA: You know, all of this is in the eye of the beholder. The very prevalent child abuse prevention plate, with the children’s hands on a blue background, that money goes to the governor’s office for child abuse causes. Character education, there is a plate specifically for that that is managed by the Department of Education. Navajoland, Diné College Warriors, there’s a Diné College plate.
So, there are some that without a lot more research than I was willing to put in, I’m not really sure what the cause is about but we have a Transplant Community Alliance, which benefits from the Donate Life plate. All of these matter to somebody, and that’s really the sort of center point of all this. If enough people care about it, the Legislature will take action.
MARK BRODIE: This is not the first time that there’s sort of been a political debate over these license plates. I think both you and I are old enough to remember a little more than a decade ago when when there was a bill to put a Tea Party license plate, to create that, and some of the folks involved in the Tea Party at the time said wait a minute, this is not really going with what our values are, like we are believers in less government, not more government. So, I guess maybe it’s not surprising that from time to time these things become political.
KEVIN DEMENNA: Political and legislators have minds of their own. Contrary to what you may hear, they think of things all the time. And in that case they didn’t check really with the owner of the brand, so I remember that well. Smaller government and more government for our license plate.
Seventeen bucks per plate can be a motivator, I’m sure it has been. But the filter as I see it is being able to raise the $32,000 legislative authorization, yeah, to get it get it primed and ADOT says that covers their cost.
MARK BRODIE: Is that seen as sort of like the like the gatekeeper fee almost in terms of making sure that the cause that is that is pushing this is really dedicated to it, they’re legit, they’re they’re willing to have some skin in the game?
KEVIN DEMENNA: I think it’s exactly that. When you create new businesses, often there’s bonds, there’s fingerprinting, there’s a threshold you have to get over, and it’s legitimacy. In this case, $32,000 and the Verde Valley Wine Trail license plate becomes a reality.
MARK BRODIE: Can you envision a time when somebody, be it ADOT or someone in leadership of the Legislature will stand up and say guys, we have enough plates at this point. We don’t need any more, we can’t handle any more, law enforcement is tired of knowing all of these different plates, like let’s just knock this off.
KEVIN DEMENNA: Never. Never. America’s love affair with cars and motorcycles. I mean, that’s part of this. What you drive and what you put on what you drive is messaging. It it may be vanity but, you know, I have a wonderful time and and I guess get honked at now and then. I just love reading the bumper stickers. I mean, that tells me who’s in front of me.
So, the Capitol Mall has a collection of monuments that go through the same process. It speaks to I’d like to think a degree of accessibility. Now, unless you missed "American Graffiti," the movie, Americans love their vehicles and when you can get a matching plate to match whatever ethos is coming through in what you’re driving, you’re set.
MARK BRODIE: All right, that is Kevin DeMenna with DeMenna Public Affairs. Kevin, good as always to talk to you, thank you.
KEVIN DEMENNA: Always good to be on KJZZ.
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