A new Washington state license plate designed to honor the state's female veterans has been proposed by State Senator Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island, 23rd District).

Senate Bill 6433 is "an act relating to creating Washington state women veterans special license plates," reads the Senate Bill Report.

Since Rolfes' election to the legislature in 2006, she has taken leading roles in education funding and reform, small businesses, ferries, military families and veterans, and the environment.

In 2015, she was named "Outstanding Legislator" by the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.

The plate would be the state's 41st special license plate and will cost $40.

SB 6433 states that 58,000 women in Washington are serving or have served in the military, that there are 10,500 women on active-duty, and that women are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population nationwide with 1.9 million.

Section 1 of the proposed bill captures this segment of the state's population.

Women have served through all periods of United States history, whether fighting in disguise or as spies during the American Revolution and Civil War; as nurses, truck drivers, intelligence analysts, and airplane mechanics in World War II; or as helicopter pilots in combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today, approximately ten thousand five hundred women are on active-duty in Washington state, and women are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population, with one million nine hundred thousand women veterans representing every branch of the military living nationwide, a number that is expected to increase over the next ten years.

To honor the sacrifice and contributions of women veterans to our country, recognize their unique life experiences, and raise greater awareness of the need for services and support for women veterans, the legislature hereby creates the women veterans special license plate.

The state's representatives wholeheartedly joined in support of Rolfes' efforts by unanimously passing House Bill 2187 (a companion bill) earlier in the month.

Senate Bill 6433 will soon pass to the floor of the Senate for final consideration.

For more information on the bill, visit: app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/.