Beep, beep!

California may soon have its own specialized license plate to help fund spay-and-neuter programs.

It's all part of a state law -- AB 1634 (California Healthy Pets Act) -- that's making its way through the state legislature (more on that later this week when the bill is expected to be close to its final form).

As for the license plate, Judie Mancuso of .the AB 1634 campaign says 23 other states already have plates supporting similar spay-and-neuter programs.

And based on how successful California's environmental plates have been -- bringing in $4.5 million from 2006-07 alone -- she said the pets version could really make a difference in the fight against pet overpopulation.

So what will it look like? Don't know yet.

"We're hoping to have a contest and to open it up to the entire state," she said. The plates would include a message and a picture. If 7,500 are pre-sold at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the plates will begin to be issued 9 months later, she said. So that means they could be available about a year from now.

We'll update you with more details later this week on the pending state bill. If you want to find out more about in the meantime, visit the sponsor's web page.

And you can see samples of plates from other states here.

Plates from Florida and Texas are show above. And here's New Mexico's version: 

Let's get those creative ideas going! .