Question: Auwe! I went online to order a personalized license plate for my daughter as a surprise because she bought her first car, but I couldn’t afford to do it! The fee is going way up, and you have to pay it year after year. How can they justify this huge increase? It doesn’t take that much extra work to issue a personalized plate, and not year after year.

Answer: As you have discovered, the annual fee for a personalized Hawaii license plate, commonly known as a vanity license plate, will increase to $60 from $25 as of July 1. The special plate fee is in addition to all regular fees and taxes on motor vehicles and is not refundable. It is charged upon initial application for the personalized plate and with each subsequent renewal of the vehicle’s Hawaii registration. As you indicated, even if you buy the plate now, before the fee rises, your subsequent renewals would be much higher. We’ve heard from other readers who already are in that boat.

“Those already holding special license plates may replace it with a standard license plate following their county’s replacement procedures if they would like to avoid the increased annual fee. This must be done 45 days prior to their annual renewal date,” said Shelly Kunishige, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation.

On Oahu the task can be handled at a satellite city hall, where an affected motorist can request to switch to a standard license plate for $5, said Harold Nedd, a spokesperson for Honolulu County’s Department of Customer Services. For more information, see honolulu.gov/csd.

At least 17,000 Oahu motorists have personalized license plates, he said, and demand is rising.

As for the source of the fee hike, look to Senate Bill 772 of 2021 (808ne.ws/sb772), which the state Legislature passed and Gov. David Ige signed into law (as Act 050). This measure amended Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 249-9.1 to increase the application fee and annual renewal fee for personalized license plates to $60 from $25, as part of a bill that also authorized the issuance of specialty license plates to support environmental conservation. The conservation plates are not yet available.

Sen. Chris Lee (D, Hawaii Kai-Waimanalo-Kailua) was a sponsor of the bill. Recalling last year’s discussions in a telephone call Monday, he said legislators were looking for ways to raise money to maintain Hawaii’s roads while limiting the economic impact on residents.

“The whole gist of the conversation was, ‘How do we shift costs away from your average family and shift them to tourists and those who are willing to pay?’” he recalled. “Having a vanity plate is a luxury for some people, and those people have the luxury of paying for it or not. … Folks who want to have vanity plates might be frustrated to be forced to have an increase,” but it was better to raise fees on an optional license plate than a required one, he said.

Q: Is the annual renewal fee going up on the Polynesian Voyaging license plate, too?

A: No. The fee hike mandated by SB 772 does not apply to “Hawaii speciality organization license plates” such as those issued to support the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Haleakala National Park and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Nedd said. The initial cost of those plates is $35.50, of which $20 goes to support the organization. The annual fee is $25.

HRS Chapter 249 (808ne.ws/HRS249) spells out rules for various types of special license plates. Organization plates are separate from the personalized plates that will get more expensive in July.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.