By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– In response to heightened public interest in the direction being taken with the rainbow design on the Hawai’i license plate, the city’s Department of Customer Services Director Kim Hashiro issued today the following statement:
“We would like to reaffirm that the current rainbow design that has adorned Hawai’i license plates since 1991 is nearing the end of its lifecycle. However, there isn’t an urgent need for new design options for the Hawai’i license plate, and no change to the current plate will happen at any point during the 2023 calendar year. Various options will be considered, including changing the rainbow plate to a fresh design. It is also possible to modify the letter-number combinations to extend the life of the rainbow design, which has been around for more than 30 years. Looking back on the history of the Hawai’i license plate, the King Kamehameha design was issued from 1981 to 1990, and prior to that, various other license plate designs were only in use for 3 -to-7-year periods. With license plates being a very visible aspect of any vehicle, we will be working with the state and other counties on selection of a new design, and the public will also have the opportunity to provide input on the state’s next standard issue license plate.”