The New Orleans Saints and the state will work together to design a new speciality license tag for the team’s fans if a bill that won approval by a House panel Tuesday becomes law.

The Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works unanimously approved House Bill 1165 by Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, to create the tags, sending it to the full House for debate.

Saints lobbyist Randy Haynie said the franchise and the National Football League have had input on the bill to clear the way for the possible use of team and league logos to avert legal problems.

Arnold said the tags will cost $25 a year more than the normal cost of the plates that are based on the value of the vehicle. The Office of Motor Vehicles also will assess a $3.50 handling fee.

“It is not a New Orleans thing, it is a Louisiana thing,” Arnold said of the proposed tag, which will commemorate the Saints’ Super Bowl championship season. 

The bill does not spell out a specific design for the plate. Arnold said he and Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, a co-sponsor of the House bill and author of a companion measure in the Senate, have met for several hours with team and NFL officials about the proposed plates.

The bill requires that at least 1,000 motorists sign up for the tags before they are designed or sold. Haynie said the first 300 tags will be made available to Saints players and members of the organization.

The bill authorizes that the $25-a-year fee be turned over to programs designed to enhance parks, recreation and youth fitness programs.

Arnold said the money from the tags sold in a parish will remain in that parish.

Arnold’s bill also authorizes the creation of a nonprofit foundation, to be governed by a seven-member board controlled by the Saints. The board’s foundation would decide what programs will get the license tag money, Arnold said.

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