State Sen. Robert Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, has introduced legislation in the state Senate that would eliminate a fee associated with new license plates.

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled five new license plate designs as part of a public voting contest to select the state’s new license plates. The plates are necessary, Cuomo says, because the older plates are not easily readable by the state’s EZ Pass system, future cashless tolling systems and license plate readers used by law enforcement.

No action will be taken on Ortt’s legislation until the legislature returns to work in January.

“The Cuomo administration recently announced plans to redesign New York state license plates,” Ortt said in his legislative justification. “Buried in the announcement and design survey was news that motorists with the blue and white Empire State plates would have to replace them and pay a $25 fee to get the new plates. This is nothing more than another Albany cash grab, and a creative way to raise taxes without calling it a tax. New York taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for new state-mandated plates when there’s no issue with their current plates. This bill blocks the DMV from forcing motorists to pay for the new plate design. New Yorkers should not be forced to pay for this unnecessary vanity project.”

Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Geneva and Assembly minority leader, has also introduced legislation in the Assembly mirroring Ortt’s proposal.

According to the Associated Press, State Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan, R-Long Island, has called the fee “the latest example of Albany’s nickel-and-diming of hardworking middle-class taxpayers.” State Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland County, called it an “unnecessary cash grab.”

Cuomo has defended the need and cost for the new plates. According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, which posted video of a news conference with Cuomo at the New York State Fair near Syracuse, the governor said the fee dates back to 2009 while the $20 fee to keep a vehicle’s current license plate numbers is the surcharge the state charges for a vanity license plate.

The $25 fee dates back to 2009, when former Gov. David Paterson tried to require all drivers to purchase new license plates for $25 each. In an op-ed in the New York Post, Edward McMahon, executive director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, notes the law stipulates a fee not to exceed $25, which means Cuomo could set a lesser price. Paterson’s plans, which came in the midst of the state’s most recent financial crisis in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and ensuing recession, ended up abandoning the $25 license plate fee amid public and legislative complaints.

If legislators pass Ortt’s legislation, it would need Cuomo’s signature or, if the governor vetoes the legislation, a two-third majority of the state Legislature to override the veto. That hasn’t happened since Cuomo took office in 2011.