New Coastal Bays Plate

The addition of a nod to the state’s coastal bays started when Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (D-Eastern Shore) bought a new car.

Carozza already sported a vanity license plate referencing the Eastern Shore bays. She said the dealership offered her the opportunity to move to a bay plate.

It was then that she learned there was no option for coastal bays.

“I said, ‘Well, maybe we need to do something about that,'” Carozza said Tuesday.

“I serve on the Maryland Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee,” she said. “I spend a lot of time ensuring that my colleagues know that not only do we need to focus on protecting the Chesapeake Bay, but we have the Maryland coastal bays to protect as well.

“This was a way that we could raise the visibility of Maryland’s coastal bays and really have it highlighted on the bay license plate itself,” she said of the tweaked plate design.

Carozza said she hopes the updates will increase the number of vehicles sporting the new plates.

That would mean more money for bay-related projects and maybe “an increase for the Maryland coastal bays as well,” she said.

For the full story: Maryland tweaks popular Chesapeake Bay plates - Maryland Matters