Are you a Pisces? There’s a plate for you. Are you a member of the Tesla Owners Club of America? There’s a plate for you. And, if you are a land surveyor, there’s a plate for you too. Love operating a ham radio? You can show your love for the airwaves with a customized license plate in New York.
Bean counters can get a specialized "CPA" license plate. If you drive a BMW you can let fellow drivers know in more ways than one that you have one. Yes, there is a "BMW Car Club of America" plate here in the Empire State.
You can get a special license plate for just about anything in New York. You can even order personalized vanity plates. But, you cannot get a Gold Star Family plate to honor and remember someone in your family who was killed while actively serving in the United States armed forces.
You can get a plate right now if you are a PETA member and against "speciesism," if you love bluebirds or the New York Mets, but are out of luck if you have a family member killed in the service of our nation.
The NYS Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offers dozens and dozens of special license plates in categories such as I Love NY Adventure Plates, Sports, Military and Veterans, Counties & Regions of NYS, Colleges, Fraternities, Sororities, Causes, Professions, Organizations, and Motorcycles. There are special categories for historical buildings, vintage cars, birds, flowers, and hobbies.
There are four categories of military-related plates with many individual plates within each category – Military Branches (23 types), Medals and Honors (5 types), Military and Veteran Communities (17 types), and Wars and Battles (7 types). Within this category, you can get a Gold Star Mother plate, but you cannot get a Gold Star Families plate.
Why can’t you get a Gold Star Families plate?
The process begins with the New York State Senate, Assembly, and Governor Kathy Hochul proposing then passing legislation making this a reality.
Republican members introduced bills in both the Senate and Assembly amending current law to include Gold Star Families as an option. It was sent directly to the Transportation Committee in both bodies never to receive a vote. Lawmakers have been trying to pass a bill to create a Gold Star Family license plate going all the way back to 2009, without success.
Gold Star Mothers can get a special license plate, but there is an effort underway to change that to include Gold Star Families as a general category.
Adam DeMarsico lives in Cohoes and grew up in North Adams, Massachusetts. When he went to register his car in NY, he realized he could not get a Gold Star Family plate. He started the effort to get the law in New York changed so that his whole family, not only their Gold Star mom, could honor his brother Army Spc. Michael DeMarsico. Michael was killed by an IED in Afghanistan in 2012. The Families plate is meant for the immediate relatives of service members killed while on active duty.
DeMarsico reached out to Ethan Craft, a self-described license plate enthusiast who did a digital mock-up of what the Gold Star Family plate could look like.
Everyone is in a holding pattern until the majority in the state Senate and Assembly move the bill to the floor for a vote. It has been left to languish in legislative limbo in the Transportation Committee since January of 2024.