License Plates

STATEMENT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE LICENSE PLATES

There has been an unforeseen delay in producing and making available updated standard issue number license plates bearing the word “Hawaiʻi” spelled correctly with the Hawaiian diacritical ʻokina mark.

The city’s Division of Motor Vehicles is in the process of working on a solution to address inconveniences this delay may cause in issuing an estimated 350,000 new license plates statewide.

Alternative license plates are immediately available to City and County of Honolulu motorists.

Among the alternatives are any of about 15 organization special number license plates that assist qualified nonprofits with causes such as education, public safety and efforts to reduce aggressive driving behaviors. Included among the alternatives will be the “America United” organization special number license plate, which is available free of charge.

Specialty license plates that provide monetary support to the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Haleakala National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are also available.

The city’s Division of Motor Vehicles apologizes for the unforeseen delay in the availability of updated standard issue number license plates and looks forward to announcing the arrival of the updated plates as soon as they are available.

Previously issued license plates with a current registration are still valid and do not need to be replaced.

New Electric Vehicle Registrations

Electric vehicle owners who purchase organization decal license plates as an alternative plate will not to have to return to a satellite city hall office when EV plates are available. Satellite city hall offices are collecting the contact information of these EV owners for their replacement plates to be mailed to them as soon as these plates are available. Those EV owners will not have to pay the $5.50 fee for the replacement plates due to the inconvenience caused by the unforeseen delay in the production and delivery of the updated electric vehicle plates.

An official letter has been issued authorizing EV owners with organization decal license plates to temporarily use a high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane regardless of the number of people in the vehicle. The letter is required to remain in that electric vehicle until a new EV number plate is issued to the registered owner.

The standard-issue state of Hawaii license plate is an iconic symbol that has endured for more than three decades.

The “Rainbow” license plates are issued upon an initial registration of a vehicle in the state. Two license plates are issued at a time for vehicles except motorcycles, and by state law must be placed on the front and back of the vehicle. Motorcycles are issued a single license plate that is placed on the rear of the cycle.

Information on vehicle registration is available on the vehicle registration page.

In addition to the standard issue license plates, there are several specialty license plates – including personalized license plates – that are available. Please go to the specialty license plates page for more information.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, a new state law changed the spelling of the state name on license plates to “HAWAIʻI” to include the Hawaiian diacritical mark.

That new law also requires the City and County of Honolulu to issue only license plates that have “HAWAIʻI” spelled with the Hawaiian diacritical mark after Jan. 1, 2025.

To see previous license plates issued in the state, visit our historical license plate archive.

Frequently Asked Questions about the updated license plates

Why did the Hawaiʻi license plate change?

The 2024 legislature passed HB 1861 and the governor signed it into law at Act 64 to make changes to HRS 249-9 requiring the spelling of the state’s name as “Hawaiʻi” with the ʻokina.

Why is the state license plate important to the City and County of Honolulu?

State law makes it the responsibility of the city to administer the license plate program for the state of Hawaiʻi.

Why is adding the ʻokina on the Hawaiʻi license plate important?

The City and County of Honolulu has been proactive toward incorporating Hawaiian diacritical marks in official messaging to promote Hawaiian language and culture as consistently as possible.
This is another step in meeting an important goal, joining state and county letterhead and website headers that are already required to include Hawaiian Diacriticals (Act 170, Session Laws 2022).

Will this force a new standard license plate design?

We determined that our beautiful current rainbow design has enough letter-number combinations to last more than a decade, so we won’t be looking to create a new design at this time.
All we needed to do was add the ʻokina to Hawaiʻi when reprinting the license plate.

Will all the license plates have to be changed immediately?

Any license plate issued after Jan. 2, 2025 must have an ʻokina in “Hawaiʻi”.
License plates without an ʻokina in “Hawaiʻi” are no longer available.

Will my old license plates need to be changed?

No, any license plates issued before Jan. 1, 2025 is still valid.

What if I want to change my license plate to have the new “ ʻokina” plate?

Follow the usual procedure to replace a license plate at a satellite city hall. It is an express window transaction.
It might be helpful to schedule an AlohaQ appointment to keep from having a potentially long wait.
Check with the satellite city hall concierge to confirm that the license plates you want are available. Standard issue license plates are available, but manufacturing delays have some types of license plates currently unavailable.

What about changing my personalized license plates?

Just follow the usual procedure to replace a license plate at a satellite city hall, the same if it were stolen or damaged.

What needed to happen for the ʻokina license plates to be issued starting Jan. 2nd?

We have been working since the bill was passed on May 3, 2024 and the governor signed it into law on June 24, 2024.
As the program administrator, the City and County of Honolulu immediately consulted with our neighbor counties to assess the license plate inventory statewide.
A plan was developed in conjunction with the other counties to exhaust the previous license plate inventory statewide. That’s why you may see a few license plates for Maui on Oʻahu.
Our license plate vendor has been manufacturing and shipping the new license plates for our locations to make available to the public. Unfortunately, there have been delays for certain types of license plates and those will be available as soon as possible.

What other changes may be coming on license plates?

The new law allows designs for special plates like the Hōkūleʻa Polynesian Voyaging Society plate, the National Parks plates, or the new plates that were approved in the last session, to use upper case, lower case or title case lettering in the design for the words “Hawaiʻi” and “Aloha State.”