FIRST OFF . . .

By a vote of 49 to 27, the California State Assembly has passed a bill to create a license plate to fund the arts. AB 1786, authored by Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland), would place monies from the sale of license plates bearing a design created by one or more California artists into a trust fund to be administered by the California Arts Council. The bill was modeled after the state’s environmental license plate program, which provided about $22 million in fiscal 1985-86 for environmental projects. A spokeswoman for Bates said the artistic license plate could augment the arts council’s current $13.4 million budget by “as much as $20 million.” The bill, which has faced opposition from the California Highway Patrol and the state Department of Motor Vehicles, is expected to go before the Senate for a vote by early September.