The Orlando Sentinel said it best:
The education budget may be cut. Taxes may be raised. Our state is in economic crisis. And what are our legislators talking about? License plates. And the comments from the Miami Herald
and St. Pete Ti
mes aren’t far behind.
But let’s tiptoe through this carefully: more carefully than the mainstream press, but less detailed — at this point — than true constitutional scholars. First, note in all three news articles only ONE gives you the link to the actual bill text. So let’s get that out of the way: you can find Senate Bill 642 here. Note how much goddamn time is spent on this bill. There have been votes, committee meetings, versions, amendments, floor amendments, and three sets of staff analysis. Yes, all for license plates.
According to the March 2009 analysis, the issue started, humbly enough, with the proposal to make an Autism license plate. No Jesus in sight. My how times have changed in a month.
In the current bill version, not only do we have a Christian license plate BUT we also have the money going to… Toomey Foundation for the Natural Sciences, Inc. Sounds benign enough, right? Except it is religious based — including a bible quote on their scientific? home page. Don’t think someone is playing fast and loose? How about the bills prior version which gave the money to… Faith in Teaching. Curiously, their website is down. Some scant information about that group is here.
Constitutionally, there are two issues: can a State have the plate and, if so, can the State take the money and give it to a religious group… we’ll see.