Law Would Allow Family Members of Military Personnel Killed in Action to Display Special License Plate
(TRENTON) — Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jack Conners and Assembly members Matthew W. Milam and Valerie Vainieri Huttle issued a multimedia package Monday in which they discuss their recently enacted legislation creating a gold star license plate in New Jersey.
The law (formerly A-1958), enacted Monday, authorizes a special Gold Star Family license plate to be issued to parents, siblings, spouses, children, stepparents and adoptive parents of service members killed in the line of duty.
The multimedia package consists of a video of the legislators discussing the new law and audio and a transcript of same.
The video can be accessed directly via our website — www.assemblydems.com — or by clicking here.
The audio file is available upon request.
A transcript of comments from the legislators is appended below:
Assemblyman Jack Conners (D-Camden), Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair:
“A gold star parent is someone whose child has been lost in battle. The ultimate sacrifice, if you will. And what we’re trying to do with this legislation — the Gold Star Family license plate — is to honor these men and women who have been lost in battle; the sons and daughters of citizens of New Jersey.”
Assemblyman Matthew W. Milam (D-Cumberland):
“And it’s just a good way for us to allow them to be proud. And it’ll also be a way for even the general motoring public to recognize that this person, operating that vehicle, has a loved one that served for us and made the ultimate sacrifice and let them be proud of that through these license plates.”
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen):
“My grandmother was a gold star mother. It’s honoring, not only the parents, but it’s reminding us of how these people that go to war continue to keep us free and keep us safe.”
Conners:
“The design of the license plate will be done by the Gold Star Mothers organization. They will work and come up with a proper design for the plate. And also, they will decide who gets the license plate. This will not be something that the Motor Vehicle Commission does.
“And the Gold Star Mothers, in particular, who came to me from the get-go, they felt that this would be an appropriate way to honor their sons and daughters, by doing it with a license plate. And, as I said, we’re often out and all of us are driving cars and we’re all out on the road and it’s kind of a neat way to honor these young men and women that sacrificed their lives for us.”