Could brake tags soon be a historical relic of a bygone era in the state of Louisiana?
State Rep. Larry Bagley of Logansport is trying to make that a reality with a new proposal to the state legislature.
It’s a bill that has failed two times prior to this latest filing, but he’s hoping the third time will be the charm.
“I've brought it twice before, the first 4 years I ran,” Bagsley told KEEL. “Neither time, I really didn't have any trouble getting the votes out to vote for it, but the problem was that the governor was not really in favor of pushing it, neither was the state police. The state police fought it both times.”
Bagley was asked what the state police’s issue was with doing away with the requirement.
“Well, the issue was that at that time they said that they needed that sticker because, ‘If we see a car with the number wrong on that sticker and it’s a violation, we know that there are other violations in that car,’” Bagley said.
But Bagley said the state police have changed their tune as of late thanks to a new tax that may not aid in discovering further traffic violations but does replace the money generated by the brake tag fees.
“The big thing was that they said was the little bit of money that they got went straight to the state police,” Bagley said. “But now, last year when we put that tax from vaping (products) on... the state police came to me and asked me would I bring it again. I told them I was planned to, and they said they were going to support it this time.”
Bagley said he fully expects the bill to pass the legislature this time. If it does, it would take effect July 1 and would not just eliminate the sticker renewal but also the fee that goes along with it.