For about thirty years, New Jersey license plates have basically the same appearance.

But a proposed law that can add color to the roads, giving drivers the option to install retro license plate designs on their vehicles, is closer to becoming a reality in Garden State.

This month, a Senate committee introduced a piece of legislation aimed at restoring the blue and yellow license plate designs that were available from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

"I think it will be interesting for some people," said Jim Moini, license plate collector and creator of njplates.moini.net. "I'm not sure how many people will spend extra money to buy one."

According to the bill, drivers must pay $50 to obtain a classic license plate, and pay $10 per year as a renewal fee.

The measure comes with several exit ramps of its own in case the effort is too costly or there is insufficient demand for retro designs. Before New Jersey receives at least 500 applications, it is not even necessary to start the design and production of retro license plates. If the average cost of each license plate is reduced, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission will be allowed to cancel the idea of ​​more than $50 for two consecutive fiscal years.

"With current technology, they may not be able to get the appearance of the blue version of the 1980s," Moni said. "Today this is a completely different manufacturing process."

Moini pointed out that today's plates have yellow and white backgrounds and are printed with round numbers and letters. The printing plates produced in the 1980s featured embossed characters and the characters had diagonal lines.

The bill requires private funding of $25,000 to offset the initial cost of launching these sectors, including computer programming changes.

The measure was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on December 6 and sent to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The proposal has yet to see any action in the New Jersey State Assembly.

"New Jersey will not be the first state to bring back vintage license plates," said the legislator and Senator Christine Corrado of R-Passaic. "Many states have already done this, and they find that there is a great demand for them."

Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.