OLYMPIA, Wash. — Car owners in Washington soon won’t have to wait months for a new license plate.
Due to a backlog, the Washington Department of Licensing announced Tuesday that the state is speeding up the license-plate making process.
Wait times, which have been more than four months in some parts of the state, should be eliminated by Thanksgiving, said DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony.
Anthony said Washington is going to produce non-embossed plates to increase production at the manufacturing facility within the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Inmates produce the plates.
The embossing process makes the digits and letters raised within the aluminum plates.
The inmates are currently producing more than 9,000 plates a day. Skipping the embossing process should increase production to 15,000 a day, said a Department of Corrections spokesperson.
"We're hoping that our customers will be relieved they finally have their plates,” said Anthony.
For more than a year, the state has issued paper license plates that have to be renewed every 60 days to handle the backlog and wait times.
Yakima resident Stephen Hall said it was “inexcusable” he had to wait four months for his truck’s new plate while also having to renew his temporary one.
“Why is this taking so long?” said Hall.
Anthony said supply chain issues caused a reduction in manufacturing and the facility inside the prison was shut down for more than a year.
The plant was renovated, and new equipment was installed, but the prison didn’t have enough inmates to operate it, according to Department of Corrections spokesperson Chris Wright.
“The old facility was also in a lower security part of the prison, and after sentencing reform and releases during the pandemic, there was a shortage of eligible incarcerated individuals available to work in it," Wright said. "The new plant is in a higher security part of the prison and that allows for more staff."
Anthony said the state will resume embossing plates once the backlog is eliminated.
But she said the state may look at making the move permanent since it’s faster, cheaper, and law enforcement supports the use of non-embossed plates. Anthony said car owners with embossed plates will not have to switch.