YAY! The news we've been waiting for!

I am thrilled! This morning I received the following email from the office of Senator Emmett Hanger:

Hello again. We will be happy to file your request for legislation to consider for 2012. Obviously, all 140 General Assembly seats are up for re-election in Nov. After that, we will start filing prospective drafts for legislation and at that time he can review your request again.
Thanks so much!
Holly Herman, Legislative Aide

Image from http://augustafreepress.com

This is wonderful news! A few Beekeeping Club presidents and members recommended that I contact Senator Hanger regarding this since he's done so much in the past for Virginia beekeepers.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Senator Hanger!!

I have one more business item to take care of before I can start collecting applications and fees in a frenzied state, and that is to secure an account in which to deposit the checks for the plate fees. It would be so simple if we could all just make out our check to the DMV for the license plates since they're the ones the money is ultimately going to, right!? But no. We have to put the checks into one account, and then from there write one single big gigantic check to the DMV when we submit the applications in the fall/winter of this year.

Right now it looks like we will either be making our checks out to the Pollinator Partnership themselves (or maybe another organization can help us out), or else I'll look into creating a special non-interest account at the bank for this specific purpose.

(Maybe since they created a new law to increase the required amount of applications & fees to 450, someone else can make a new law to collect the checks all payable directly to the DMV rather than just one big one. I can see why they do it that way but I feel like it makes the whole process seem sketchy from the point of view of people who want the plates!)

Demo Plate!!

It's a bird! It's a bug! It's..... a license plate!

Not one that I can actually put onto my car and drive around with though. It's one that BuildASign.com sent me that I can use when I'm out promoting the plates! You can go on their website and customize a license plate (or personalize from their ready-to-go templates) and make any kind of plate that you want! They're a wonderful company who wanted to work with me on sharing some product samples and liked the idea of the Pollinator Plates, so they sent me some promotional items for a good cause. :)


Spring is coming and I hope to find lots of events to attend to and get people to sign up for a plate. Because, Uggghhhhh! The requirement for 450 instead of 350 applications & fees looks like it's all but a done deal (like this process isn't already difficult enough!!). I've got a banner to grab attention, stickers to hand out for funsies, and now this aluminum license plate that people can see and feel. I love it! I want to put it on my car sooooo bad, but I know I can't. But maybe I will tomorrow, while it's nice out, just real quick, to take a picture of it.

Anyway if you're reading this and living in VA and have an idea of an event I should attend please let me know! Send me an email or you can comment on this post and I'll see it. Also if it turns out I can't make an event and you'd like to be a Pollinator-Plate-Ambassador to promote it and collect apps and fees, I'll be happy to fill you in on what you'd have to do. Again just contact me :)

Thanks and hope to come bearing some good news relatively soon.

Well here's some news.

I found this website that tracks the bills in the General Assembly.
http://www.richmondsunlight.com

Super interesting because in the "Bills By Topic" section there is a tag cloud with "license plate."

I clicked it and found this:

http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2011/hb2128/

Increases from 350 to 450 the minimum number of prepaid applications DMV must receive before issuing standard special license plates.

Boooooo! Hiiiiiissssssssssss!!!!!!!!

I'm so flustered!

I was so happy that without even trying yet, I've already gotten a list of 45 people who would like a license plate and it doesn't even include friends, or relatives, or friends of relatives and friends, etc. Now I'll probably have to get 10 times that amount! As if 350 wasn't daunting enough!

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*