In these times of budget strain, legislators are still pausing to consider the flowers.

The Senate gave final approval Thursday to a bill that increases the number of roads along which the DOT can pursue beautification projects.

The bill allows the state to use money raised from the sale of specialized licence plates — the ones with icons such as the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Durham Bulls logo — to plant flowers along all highways. This money currently is only spent on non-interstate roads.

The flowers already along interstates were funded by the sale of personalized plates — the "PB4UGO"s of the world.

The bill doesn't change how much money is raised through the sale of specialized license plates or what percentage is spent in each district, but it does mean that legislators and others coming into Raleigh on I-40 will see more flowers.

Who gets a special license plate?

Under state law, statewide elected officials and appointees get special low-numbered license plates for their cars.

The plates break down into several categories, based on their numbers:

1-14: Governor, lieutenant governor, speaker, president pro tem, members of the Council of State

15-23: Members of the governor's Cabinet

24-29: Members of the governor's staff

30-107: Chairs and presidents of various state boards, deputy and assistant state officials

108-200: State board members, commission members and employees not otherwise designated

A separate law grants legislators separate plates with the words "Senate" or "House" and their seat number, and another law grants state judges their own plates. Members of Congress and state Department of Transportation officials also have plates.

Bill drafting director Gerry Cohen said the provisions date back to 1975, although special plates of some sort were given out as early as 1937.

Rep. Alice Graham Underhill encountered some rocky going today when urging the House Transportation Committee today to approve putting the designation visitnc.com on state license plates.

Some of her sample license plates — meant to show the addition of the state's tourism Web site — displayed the ill-fated combination WTF, Thomas Goldsmith reports.

The state previously had to offer replacements to nearly 10,000 license plate holders after learning that the letter were a common abbreviation for a vulgar phrase starting, "What the ...?"

When committee members questioned whether the addition was in large enough type for other drivers to make out at interstate speeds.

"Is there a way to make the Web site more prominent?" asked Rep. Ty Harrell, a Wake County Democrat.

Not without redesigning the plate, Underhill said, adding: "My goal is to get the Web site on the plate. This is the only way to get the Web site on the plate."

The bill didn't move forward, but committee vice-chairman Nelson Cole appointed a subcommittee to study the issue further.

A bill would restrict specialty license plate designs.

Rep. Lucy Allen, a Louisburg Democrat, said she filed the bill to help police and State Highway Patrol officers identify North Carolina plates.

"We now have at least 150 specialty plates, and more are coming along this session," she said. "Some of them are hard to identify."

Allen's bill would still allow state-issued plates to feature causes such as the Appalachian Trail or the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it would require them to have a standard "First in Flight" background.

She said the problem of reading state specialty plates has come up often in the House Transportation Committee.

Still, Allen said the bill has nothing to do with perennial fight over "Choose Life" plates or other hot-button issues.

"I have voted for every (specialty plate) that I've had a chance to vote for," she said.

About 70 people showed up for a rally at the Legislative Building this morning in support of a bill to create a "Choose Life" specialty license plate that would raise money for private, non-profit adoption agencies.

"This bill has the potential to raise a lot of money for women who need it to support their pregnancies,” said Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, the House Republican leader.

Rep. Mitch Gillespie, a Marion Republican, said he has been unable to get a floor vote on his proposal, despite eight years of effort, reports Bruce Siceloff.

"It's sad we're the only southeastern state that does not have a 'Choose Life' plate," said Barbara Holt, president of N.C. Right to Life.

Some speakers said pregnant women should receive information about all their options, including abortion. Gillespie's bill would not allow money from the Choose Life plate sales to be distributed to any organization that "provides, promotes, counsels, or refers for abortion."

State license plate options may grow even more.

Legislators have already filed 11 bills creating specialized license plates for North Carolina drivers this session.

That's on top of the more than 160 plates already authorized on behalf of the state flight museum, fox hunters, shag dancing and paramedics, among other groups, as noted in this 2007 N&O article.

Each special tag costs $10 to $30 more than the standard blue-and-white "First in Flight" plates, with $10 going to the state's parks, historic sites and highway beautification program and the rest to the sponsoring organization.

Plates proposed this year would promote the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman; Mining, Travel and Tourism; the state flag; the Blue Knights police motorcycle club; Pinehurst golfing; the National Childhood Cancer Foundation; Old Baldy; the Stowe Botanical Gardens; the Horse Council; and the Beekeepers Association.

Another bill would allow the Smoky Mountains National Park plate to pay for administrative expenses as well as capital improvements.

At least 300 people must sign up for a plate before it can be issued.

North Carolina's infamous WTF license plate is now an item for Harper's Index.

The September issue of Harper's Magazine finishes off the index — a page of quirky, and oft-related factoids — with the following two items:

"Number of North Carolina license plates issued last year that begin with the letters "WTF": 8,999

"Number of drivers who have asked for a replacement plate: 92"

WTF is a popular, profane abbreviation for text messagers that stands for "what the ----."

The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles was unaware of the letter combination's Internet-age meaning until a 60-year-old technology teacher from Fayetteville complained. Her grandchildren had clued her in.
The DMV has offered to replace the plate for free.

The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles has taken down the plate.

After eliciting some giggles from an online picture of a license plate with the offensive texting acronym WTF, the agency changed it to a new plate.

The new number: XWC-5484.

For now, that doesn't mean anything offensive. But we at Dome would encourage our readers that from now on, if you feel the need to swear in our comments section, just write XWC.

Last year, state officials notified nearly 10,000 holders of license plates with the letter combination "WTF" that they could get a replacement at no charge after officials learned that the combination is a common acronym in text messaging for a vulgar phrase, "What the ..."

But while tracking down the errant plates, no one at the Division of Motor Vehicles checked their own Web site. "WTF-5505" is shown as a sample of a personalized plate, Dan Kane reports.

"I can't believe it," DMV Commissioner Bill Gore said Monday when alerted to the situation. "Obviously, I didn't know it was there."

Other DMV officials indicated they noticed the plate last week, several days after The News & Observer first reported on the problems with the WTF plates. The DMV is trying to remove the plate from the Web site and hopes to have it replaced in a day or so.

WTF was the first random letter combination available when DMV switched from blue- to red-lettered plates. DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell received a sample plate WTF-5506 to use as a prop for news stories about the switch.

No one made the connection.

"If you are not looking for something you usually don't see it," Howell said.

The DMV was alerted to the vulgar message last July when a 60-year-old technology teacher from Fayetteville complained about the plate. Her teenage grandchildren clued her in.

Are soccer moms making a comeback?

State Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has co-sponsored three different bills related to soccer in the past two years.

One 2007 bill honored the UNC-Chapel Hill women's soccer team's 2006 national championship. Another bill invited the women players to the legislature for recognition. And a third bill filed this session would create special "Support Soccer" license plates.

Hagan, a 54-year-old mother of three, has been described as a "soccer mom from Greensboro" by both the N&O and the Charlotte Observer, as her daughter Carrie plays the sport. And in 1999, she led a fundraising effort for new soccer fields in Greensboro.

When Republicans proposed a redistricting plan that would have put her in a heavily Republican area in 2001, then state Sen. Brad Miller jokingly noted how it would affect her.

"I think under this plan, it would be easier (for you) to make it to your child's soccer games," he said.

Her Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, is no slouch in the soccer department either, co-sponsoring a 2007 resolution commending Wake Forest University's men's team.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Miller's position at the time.