20-05-2025
New Mexico's Motor Vehicle Division says vanity plate records request 2HARD
Sorry, New Mexico, but if you're trying to do a vanity plate public records deep dive, UR SOL.
While other states are able to provide the public a record of personalized license plates that have been rejected after being deemed derogatory, obscene or some other reason, New Mexico claims the undertaking is almost MPOSIBL.
The New Mexican in March requested all applications for personalized, vanity or prestige license plates that have been rejected by the Motor Vehicle Division since 2020 under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. The newspaper offered the division the option of providing a list of rejected license plates rather than each individual application to speed up the process and reduce its workload.
The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, which oversees the division, closed the request the next day, claiming it had reviewed its files and determined "there are no responsive documents."
"Rejections are done on a case by case basis," the department's Legal Service Bureau wrote in its denial letter.
"You are requesting information which we have determined does not currently exist and would, therefore, require TRD to create a new public record," the letter added. "We are, therefore, unable to provide for the inspection of the records that would include the information that you have requested."
The records actually exist; the department just doesn't keep track of them.
"MVD's license plate application records are maintained by the customer's name or identifier," spokesperson Bobbie Marquez wrote in an email in April. "Once we have their information, staff can go to their file and locate the application in question."
In other words, the newspaper — or the public — would have to know the name of each person who filed an application that was rejected in order to obtain the information.
"Once the application has been processed, it goes to that specific person or vehicle," Kelly Kitzman, the department's general counsel, said in an interview last month. "We can't locate it unless we have that person's name to be able to locate it. ... We can't just go to a file and find everything."
The information isn't unavailable but attached to an individual's name, she said.
"So, if you know, for instance, Jane Smith filed an application that we rejected, we could look it up according to Jane Smith's name," Kitzman said. "But we can't just look up all rejected applications."
Other states, however, are able to provide the information upon request.
"In Texas, you can receive a list of denied personalized license plate patterns by submitting a records request through our Open Records Portal," Adam Shaivitz, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, wrote in an email Monday.
"A previously released list from January–November 2024 is readily available," he added. "You can access this list by clicking on the Trending Topics box in the portal. If you need data from more recent months, please submit your request through the portal and specify which month(s)/year(s) you are seeking."
Texas denied more than 2,300 personalized license plates between January and November 2024. They include BTCHWGON, IM BLZD, LITTLPP and TOPLUSS.
Arizona's transportation department on Monday provided documents listing the rejected vanity plates by year, with MYFBOMB and KISSASH making the list.
Earlier this year, Bridge Michigan, which describes itself as Michigan's nonpartisan, nonprofit news source, reported it had obtained a list of rejected personalized license plates through a public records request under the Freedom of Information Act.
"The department doesn't track denials by year, but rather adds them to a continuously growing list," the outlet reported.
"Plates are generally rejected for reasons such as vulgarity, references to bodily functions, or the use of curse words," it added. "Other reasons for rejection include references to drugs, alcohol, criminal activity, or harmful slurs. The list of banned plates runs the gamut from 'ADULTRY' to 'WEEDMAN' and just about everything in between."
New Mexico has similar rejection rules.
A so-called prestige plate application will be rejected if it is deemed to be derogatory or obscene, falsely states or implies the vehicle or driver represents the authority of a governmental agency or official or duplicates an existing plate.
But a word of advice to New Mexicans: GOODLUK finding out if it already exists.
Marquez said in a statement Monday the Taxation and Revenue Department and the MVD take the utmost care in complying with the Inspection of Public Records Act.
"However, we are not able to fulfill your request in its current form, as your request results in no responsive records," she said.
Marquez noted IPRA does not require a public body to create a new public record.
"A member of the public may request to inspect a prestige plate application under the name of an individual, and MVD would produce the responsive application after redacting personal information that is confidential pursuant to state law," she said. "A member of the public may also request an individual's unredacted prestige plate application by providing the individual's name and a signed authorization from that individual."
