We need your help!

A specialty Venus Flytrap license plate has been proposed in North Carolina. Proceeds from plate purchases will support efforts of the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc. and Friends of Plant Conservation, Inc. to conserve native plants and promote restoration of healthy landscapes across North Carolina. 
​The Home of the Venus Flytrap specialty plate is in a combined bill (House Bill 435) that was unanimously passed by the NC House of Representatives (116 to 0) and now languishes in the Rules and Operations Committee of the Senate. We hope it can be advanced with your help, using one or more of the following actions:
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Plate design by Preston Montague
  • Senator Bill Rabon, from Southport, is Chair of the Senate Rules and Operations Committee. He needs to hear from you directly that you want him to pass House Bill 435, which includes the Home of the Venus Flytrap license plate. Give his office a call at 919-733-5963 and leave a message.  {And if you are waiting for the Venus flytrap license plate you have paid for, let him know he should stop holding up this combined bill for special registration plates that includes: A Pet is Family, Home of the Venus Flytrap, Electric Vehicle, Special Olympics NC, and NC Association of Fire Chiefs, and call for a vote.}
  • Write and call other members of the Senate Rules and Operations Committee. Find Members HERE.
  • Sign the Change.org petition HERE to support Home of the Venus Flytrap and other charitable causes in House Bill 435 (including A Pet is Family, NC Association of Fire Chiefs, Special Olympics NC, and Electric Vehicle).
  • Write and/or call your local senator. Find your senator and their contact HERE.
Talking points can include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • All specialty license plate applicants in House Bill 435 followed a rigorous process for submission to the NC Department of Motor Vehicles. Over 800 NC citizens prepaid with their application for the Home of the Venus Flytrap plate, and at least 2,500 prepaid specialty plate applications are represented in the combined bill.
  • All proposed plates support worthy causes and do not place a financial burden on the State. None of the proposed plates present controversial topics, but rather suggest positive issues that both educate the public and provide funding to support the following worthy causes: A Pet is Family, NC Association of Fire Chiefs, Special Olympics NC, Electric Vehicle, and Home of the Venus Flytrap.
  • The NC House unanimously passed House Bill 435 (ayes 116, noes 0), which was sponsored by Representatives Frank Iler (Primary), Adcock, Carney, Carter, Clampitt, Harris, Harrison, Humphrey, Hunt, John, Shepard, Turner, and Wray. 
  • The Home of the Venus Flytrap plate is supported by over 800 prepaid applicants. Venus flytrap is North Carolina’s carnivorous plant, and certainly one of the most widely recognized non-agricultural plants in the world. North Carolina citizens, by and large, do not know that the Venus flytrap is only native to southeastern North Carolina and a single county in South Carolina. North Carolina really is the home of this remarkable plant!