By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Your favorite sports team. A charity or hobby you favor. A special event in your town. Illinois has nearly 200 specialty license plates that do more than simply show you have paid your registration fees for your car or truck.

The way the state does that would change, under a bill which has passed the state House.

The specialty plates would become “one universal plate,” says the sponsor, State Rep. John D’Amico (D-Chicago). “Because there have been so many problems with our police officers and law enforcement; there are so many plates on the street.”

A driver would be able to get a plate with a blank space to which he or she could affix a sticker affirming their fondness for the University of Illinois, their friendliness to pets, their opposition to breast cancer, and so on. All that would change, D’Amico says, would be the format of a sticker on a “universal” plate, as opposed to the dozens of distinctive plates.

The only No voter, State Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood), said he didn’t accept the idea that police officers have difficulty reading license plates. He also did not like the idea of a “bland” plate to which you would apply the sticker.

H.B. 1081 passed the House, 108-1.