For years, Missouri drivers have complained about other motorists behind the wheel of vehicles with expired temporary license tags — those paper license plates issued by auto dealers to car buyers.
The sponsor of a new state law taking effect Aug. 28 hopes it helps deal with the problem.
The measure requires people to turn in the temporary paper tags to a state license office when they show up to get their permanent plates and pay sales tax on their newly purchased vehicle.
“We must start somewhere and this was the first step,” said state Rep. Donna Baringer, D-St. Louis, who succeeded in getting the measure through the Legislature in May.
The measure, added to a lengthy bill dealing with various transportation issues, aims to keep temporary tags — which are valid for just 30 days — from showing up illegally on another vehicle.
Police over the years have said forgers sometimes use markers to change numbers on the expiration date or use copiers and printers to produce fake tags.
Mike O’Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said misuse and fraudulent use of temporary tags has been an issue across the state.
Anne Marie Moy, a spokeswoman for the revenue department, called the law “a positive step.” To publicize the new requirement, she said, the department plans to include information on it with materials issued with the temporary tags.
However, Moy said, the new law neither requires nor allows the department to refuse to issue a plate if a temporary tag isn’t turned in.