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Stickers
11 - black on red
12 - black on green
13 - black on orange

Chris Cargill reports that California validation stickers were on a 6-year rotation from about 1980 which ran through 1998 when the 5-year rotation started. The extra color was black on white, last issued in 1997. Its place in the rotation was between green and orange before it was retired.
Type Plate Notes Reporter
Passenger 6UTS621 NEW Sesquicentennial was removed with the 4NPA series.
Passenger plates now have the California DMV website: dmv.ca.gov on the bottom.
High without: 6TPT798
Low with: 6TPW249 		Bill G.
1/30/12
Non-passenger Plates
Commercial 04695F1 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E are part of a series used for tractor-trailers. These plates are found only on tractors, not standard light pickups. 9E67099 is the Tractor high reported by Andy DeCeunynck on 2011-11-18.
California was expecting to run out of Commercial plates in the current format in August 2008 at 8Z99999, but current indications are that it will be much later, possibly as late as July 2009. The next format will be 00000A1 with the last digit staying constant as before. After 99999A1 will be 00000B1. After 99999Z1 will be 00000A2.
High without website: 81245E1
Low with website: 00898F1 		Franky Hernandez
12/30/11
Disabled Person
d
p
864BW NEW 		00001A D/P followed D/P Z9999. Now the series has advanced to D/P 001AA. Franky Hernandez
2/02/12
Exempt 1399442 "CA EXEMPT" on the top of the plate.
Exempt plates are found on vehicles belonging to public agencies, such as state and local governments, school districts, etc.
Exempt Motorcycle - 3002011 This is a new type that takes the place of the former diagonal and diamond E types 		Franky Hernandez
10/18/11
Livery 1ZZX347 Same style as passenger plate, but with "LIVERY" printed in red at the bottom of the plate. Franky Hernandez
1/11/12
Moped C033676 Scott Broady
6/03/09
Motorcycle 20V7871 Note: 21A through 29B (all the A and B prefixes from 21-29 were issued) were issued as blue cycles in the late 80s. 20A has been verified. 20B has also been verified on the current base. Next, will they issue any prefixes between 21 and 29, or just go to 30A? The DMV has never issued a zero in the 2nd position. There are no 10A-10Z prefixes. They started at 11A and 21A previously. Matthew Young
10/09/11
Permanent Trailer 4LT4935 Trailer plates beginning with 4 are permanent issues. Andy DeCeunynck
11/20/11
Trailer 1MA4414 Trailer plates beginning with 1 require annual registration (recreational trailers, fifth wheels, etc.)
On non-perm trailer plates, 1UA - 1ZY series are used for commercial weight fee trailers. The high is 1XD4736 from meatypaws on 2004-00-00. 		Andy Smith
10/18/11
Specialty Plates
Arts 836HUJ Matthew Young
12/23/11
Coastal Protection 1VDZ923 NEW According to the Los Angeles Times, the redesigned Whale Tail plate is set to debut August 2, 2011. The current plate is being retired in the wake of a dispute with artist Wyland, who created the original design. 1VDZ316 was the original design, but as of at least 1VDZ559, the new design is in use, which appears similar to the discontinued Wyland design except that the tail is not as wide and is drawn at an angle Matthew Young
1/29/12
Coastal Protection Truck 2Z57141 Matthew Young
5/08/09
Ex-Prisoner of War
P
O
W
7109 		Eric Sivertsen
1/17/08
Firefighter 174PAP NEW Now in the 123ABC format. The California Firefighter license plate can only be issued to a currently registered vehicle owned by an active or retired California firefighter. The fees collected from these plates (which vary depending on if the plates are sequential or personalized) are deposited in the California Firefighters Memorial Fund, which was created and is sponsored by California Professional Firefighters (CPF). Franky Hernandez
1/30/12
Lake Tahoe 1UEP998 Lake Tahoe license plate was redesigned, and now it is a "Protect Lake Tahoe" license plate.

Lake Tahoe Truck high - 2Z39959 2009-01-07 Andy Smith 		Franky Hernandez
12/21/11
Legion of Valor 235 Legion of Valor in block letters, older plate with block CALIFORNIA embossed at top. Franky Hernandez
12/04/11
Liberty Bell 0914 US CALIFORNIA embossed at top, graphic of the Liberty Bell (in red) separating the numbers and "US" with blue screened 1791 BILL OF RIGHTS 1991 at the bottom. This is one of the rarest plates in California.
Chad reports 0598 US on a Prius 2009-12-09, so it has obviously been reassigned.
Scott Broady
7/25/08
Pearl Harbor Survivor 3106 Pearl Harbor Survivor written out stacked on the left. State name in older block letters at top.
Franky Hernandez
12/04/11
Press Photographer PP2800 The letters "PP" are inside a triangle. Alex Smith
11/09/08
Purple Heart PH6713 Purple Heart badge on the left, "Combat Wounded" on bottom. These also have been issued with PH as a suffix, which probably came before the prefix. Franky Hernandez
11/27/11
UCLA APA574 Logo of a yellow bear on the left side of the plate, underlined with "UCLA" written underneath. "BRUINS" at bottom of plate highlighted by a yellow background.
Andy Smith
4/17/08
Veteran 044HEX Veteran plates are now in the 123ABC format. Art Kraemer
2/19/11
We Will Never Forget 9998MA Keith
8/17/07
Yosemite 1UBG317 Matthew Young
12/25/11
Yosemite Truck 2Z05323 From Andy Smith: Not sure if these are still being issued; they were originally issued to match the current truck-format plates, with a number, letter, then 5 numbers, but with the same Yosemite background as the passenger plates. Andy Smith
9/02/09