PHOENIX - If you are one of the many Arizona drivers with a cover on your license plate, it's almost time to get out the screwdriver.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Tuesday which will ban covering ANY part of the plate.
"In the current law the way it’s written, the only thing you can not obscure is the word Arizona," says Trooper Kameron Lee with the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The current law allows a driver to use clear or tinted covers as well as sprays to "protect" the plate. These covers and sprays sometimes make it difficult for law enforcement to see all the markings they need to.
“There’s a reason people will put that type of stuff on their plate. One… they are trying to go fast through a photo radar, or two.. they don’t want us to read it," says Lee.
Sen. Steve Farley has been trying to get this bill passed for seven years, and is finally being heard.
“If you have a law to have license plates in the first place, what sense does it make to allow people to cover it up," Farley says.
The snag on this bill stems from a difference of opinion in politics according to Farley.
“Something this common sense shouldn’t take that long, but sometimes it’s a little hard for a democrat to get a bill through this republican legislature,” Farley says.
This law, just like all others being singed by the governor will take effect 90 days after the end of this legislative session.