Live in Washington state? Love pickleball? You might soon be able to show off your passion for the sport on your license plates.
News channel K5 recently wrote a feature story detailing a proposal before Washington’s state legislature to add a pickleball-themed license plate design to the 44 special plates that the state already boasts.
Senate Bill 5333 would make the new pickleball design license plate a reality.
The association will use any proceeds from selling these license plates to build and maintain pickleball courts throughout the state.
The plates are a good choice for Washington. Pickleball is already the official state sport of Washington. And Bainbridge Island, a city and island located in Kitsap County, Washington, in Puget Sound, is recognized as the birthplace of pickleball, starting in 1965.
Last year, the Washington legislature signed a bill into law naming pickleball as Washington’s official state sport.
Washington state Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, introduced the license plate bill to the legislature. Before Lovick did this, the potential legislation received the 3,500 signatures required to make it a bill.
It’s uncertain when the legislature will vote on the bill, but K5 News reported that it should get a hearing before the legislative session ends in April.
According to the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association, the license plate design was created by Jason Laramie of Laramie Studio in Seattle, who took his inspiration from the ferry ride from Bainbridge Island to the rest of Washington state.
The Seattle Metro Pickleball Association began its drive for 3,500 signatures on Sept. 10 of last year at a Mariners Pickleball Night Event at a Seattle Mariners baseball game. That gave the association a good start on collecting enough signatures for the license plate bill, though a group of volunteers had to spread out across the state to hit the required number of 3,500.
