Issue of 1979

Legislation to implement a multiyear license plate was finally proposed in 1977. The bill to institute five-year plates passed the House Motor Vehicle Committee on March 16, 1977, and the state House on March 29, 1977. Alan Dixon, the Secretary of State, spoke in favor of passage of the bill. The Senate Transportation Committee passed the bill on April 28, 1977, and the full Senate on June 10, 1977. The bill was signed into law by Governor Jim Thompson on August 4, 1977. With the 1978 contract for license plates already awarded, multiyear plates would not be implemented until 1979. The cost savings from not issuing annual plates for the expected five year life of the plates was $21 million. One change made to the legislation before becoming a law gave the Secretary of State the discretion to determine how long the plates would last. This change would have long-term implications as there was not a statutory requirement to issue new license plates every five years.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

The 1979 issue of new license plates was complicated by the fact that the state was converting to a staggered registration system at the same time it issued these plates. Under the multiyear system vehicle owners could obtain their new plates and register their vehicles for as few as nine months or as long as 23 months. At this time a full year registration cost $18, so the registration cost was prorated to the number of months that was chosen. A nine-month registration was $13.50 while a 23-month registration cost $34.50. Initially the month that a registration would expire was based upon the last two digits of a license plate number. For instance a plate ending in the number 11 allowed the vehicle owner to register for nine months ending on September 30, 1979 or they could choose an April 30, 1980 expiration. By limiting the choices for expiration to only two different months, the state ensured that registrations would be staggered.^[17]

Renewal stickers for the 1979 license plates were blue for 1979, red for 1980, green for 1981, brown for 1982, and orange for 1983.

The multiyear system also eliminated the need for current vehicle owners to replace license plates during the winter months as no registrations were set to expire in December, January, or February. Anyone who purchased a new or used vehicle in the winter months could still end up with license plates that needed to be renewed while it was cold outside. Many other types of vehicles, such as taxis, limousines, dealers, etc. continued to be issued a new plate annually.^[17][18]

Issue of 1984

A new multi-year plate was introduced in 1984, replacing all the 1979 plates by the start of 1987. This plate consisted of embossed dark blue characters on a reflective white background, with a light blue band screened across the top containing the state name and the "Land of Lincoln" slogan. Serials on passenger plates issued to new registrants initially consisted of three letters and three numbers, while existing registrants with 1979 plates could retain the all-numeric and two-letter, four-number serials from these plates. After the three-letter, three-number format was completed in 1995, new formats were used consisting of one letter and up to six numbers.

Renewal stickers for these plates were as follows: purple for 1984, green for 1985, orange for 1986, blue for 1987, red for 1988, green for 1989, orange for 1990, maroon for 1991, white for 1992, blue for 1993, dark gray for 1994, red for 1995, white for 1996, green for 1997, gray for 1998, orange for 1999, blue for 2000 and finally red for 2001.

Issue of 2001

The new multiyear baseplate, which began to be issued in July 2001, was the first fully graphic passenger plate issued by the state of Illinois. The design, dark red characters on a background that faded from white at the top to dark blue at the bottom, was chosen by Internet voters from among nine different designs. The word "Illinois" was centered in a script font at the top, the "Land of Lincoln" slogan was once more centered at the bottom of the plate, and a single sticker well, half the size of the former well, was at the top right corner. In the center of the plate was a silhouette of Abraham Lincoln. Approximately 8.5 million passenger plates were scheduled to be replaced in a single year although replacement plates for all vehicle types was scheduled to take place over three years.^[19][20] Approximately 6.5 million passenger plates were made in Illinois at Macon County Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. in Decatur, and another 2 million plates were made by Waldale Manufacturing Ltd. of Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada in order to produce all of the passenger plates needed in a single year.^[21]

Issue of 2017

On November 15, 2016 Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that new Illinois license plates would begin to be issued in 2017. As before, the new license plates were announced in conjunction with a multiyear replacement program. The largest change to the plate was the complete replacement of the background image. The image of Abraham Lincoln was moved to the far left, was changed to a dark gray color, only showed the left half of his face, and was nearly the entire height of the plate. Additionally, the rest of the background showed a blue sky above a partial Chicago skyline including the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower); a barn with a windpump; and the dome of the Illinois State Capitol building; all of which are all in white. The serial number characters remained in dark red, and the word "Illinois" along with the "Land of Lincoln" slogan were changed to a black seriffed font. The replating program is scheduled to take place over 10 years ending in 2026.^[22][23]

The plate was designed by staff of the Illinois Secretary of State's office, and drew criticism immediately, Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune calling the design "busy and banal".^[24] Two changes were made to the plate's design within the first year of issuance, both in order to make the serial more readable: the serial's layout was changed from AB1 2345 to AB 12345 (the space coming after the letters instead of after the first digit), before the image of Abraham Lincoln was changed from a dark gray color to a much lighter gray.^[25]

1914 to 1982

The use of "License Applied For" windshield signs or similar devices can be traced back to at least 1914. Their use is likely back to 1911 when Illinois first began to provide state issued license plates.^{[26][27][28][29][30]} Defacing the signs was not taken lightly, and fines were handed out for tampering with them in even the most minor way.^[31] In 1933 many new cars were seen in Chicago without the required sign.^[32] There is little evidence of the use of "License Applied For" signs throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, but no other system of temporary vehicle registration is known for these decades. In the early 1970s Illinois vehicle owners were again receiving a small piece of cardboard with the words "License Applied For" to be taped to the inside of the vehicle's windshield until their license plates arrived in the mail.^[33][34] These signs continued to be issued until the early 1980s.^[35]

1983 to 2000

By 1983 this had transitioned to a Temporary Registration Permit on blue banknote paper for state residents that purchased new or used cars. These permits were supposed to be displayed in the lower right corner of the windshield. If new plates did not arrive in the mail within 60 days, the permit could be renewed. State residents who privately purchased a new or used vehicle were required to place a copy of their registration application in the lower right corner of the windshield and place a copy of the bill of sale in the lower left window. There has never been a charge for these permits.^[36][37]

Each of these permits had a unique number at the bottom left hand corner. In 1984 a prefix was added to the permit number so that the location of where the permit was obtained could be identified. The following prefixes were used: B for agents of the Secretary of State; CX for currency exchanges; DL for Illinois vehicle dealers; and RM for licensed remittance agents.^[38]

A revised permit form and new codes were used beginning in 1986. The primary change to the form was the expiration date went from being the same size as most of the text on the form to becoming the prominent feature with characters at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) in size. The acronym "EXP" (expires) immediately proceeded the Month, Day, and Year boxes at the top of the form. This change provided much better visibility of when a temporary permit expired. The revised codes were CUR for currency exchanges; DLR for Illinois vehicle dealers; MVS for agents of the Secretary of State; and REM for licensed remittance agents. The code and the unique serial number continued to appear at the bottom of the form.^[39]

By 1993 this system had been changed to an orange Temporary Registration Permit that showed both a large expiration date and a large temporary registration number. This paper tag was three inches wide by eight inches long, and it was supposed to be displayed in the back window of the vehicle. Problems with this permit, as well as the previous blue permit, were that they could easily be altered, their small size made them difficult to read, the numbers were not entered into police databases of plate numbers, and with the increased popularity of tinted windows the orange permits were often nearly invisible to other motorists, pedestrians, and the police.^[40][41][42] Originally these permits were valid for 60 days, but circa 1998 the length of time they could be used was extended to 90 days.^[43]

In June 1998 it was announced that new Temporary Registration Permits would begin to be issued in March 1999. Stickers, the size of regular license plates, were to be placed in the same location as normal plates. They were designed to be difficult to alter, would shred if moved, and therefore could not be transferred to another vehicle.^[42] This system was never implemented, and it wasn't until June 2001 that the orange temporary permitting form was replaced with an entirely revised permitting system.^[44] The last of the orange permits did not expire until December 31, 2001.^[45]

2001 to present

"Responding to complaints that temporary vehicle tags help criminals escape detection, Secretary of State Jesse White announced a $2 million program [on] Tuesday [June 19, 2001] to introduce tamper-proof temporary license plates that will allow police to know the identity of vehicle owners."^[44] He also called the black on yellow permit design, "One of the finest devised by man."^[46] These tags were the size of regular license plates, they incorporated a hologram in a strip across the entire plate, they had numbers the same size as a regular license plate, and they were immediately entered into law enforcement databases upon being issued. The expiration date was under a clear film to make them tamper-proof. Plates were valid for 90 days, which was the same length as the old system, and only a single permit for the rear of the vehicle was issued. The first day of issue was June 12, 2001 with these earliest permits being distributed to drivers license facilities, auto dealers, and currency exchanges.^[44]

The main problem with the new temporary permit, which remain in use today and are colloquially known as a temporary plate, is that the cardboard plate easily darkens when it gets wet, usually from rain, snow, or car washes, and consequently many begin to look old when left attached to a vehicle for as few as 30 days. Changes to the design since being issued include the format of the serial number being updated (see below), the plates red lettering has been revised, the state seal has been removed, and the boxes that indicate the month of expiration have been separated into four different groups. Regular updates to the year boxes are necessary to keep the plates current. All vehicle types use this temporary registration permit with the exception of motorcycles and mopeds which use a smaller permit with a slightly modified format than the standard permit.

Initially the format used for the permit was the same as that of a passenger car license plate: three numbers followed by a space and then four more numbers (123 4567). For motorcycles and mopeds the format was three numbers followed by a space and then three more numbers (123 456). This led to there sometimes being the same number on both a permanent registration and a temporary registration. Eventually the inevitable mix-up happened, and a person with a permanent plate was pulled over for having the serial number of a temporary plate which was being looked for by the police. The proliferation of vanity plates and specialty plates, like the Environmental and Prevent Violence plates, some of which also carried the same serial number sequence as regular passenger plates, was also of concern.^[47][48][49]

The confusion caused by duplicate serial numbers led to a format change on the permits in the spring of 2003. The new format for passenger permits consisted of three numbers, a letter, and three more numbers (123 A 456); the format for motorcycle and moped plates was similar but with two numbers before the letter instead of three (12 A 345). In both cases, T was the first letter used, followed by A, B, C etc., with I, O and Q skipped. With the introduction of the new formats, the red state seal between the sets of characters was removed.

Pre-state plates

1911 to 1978

1979 to present