NASHVILLE — Gov. Phil Bredesen is once again allowing the latest batch of specialty license plates to become law without his signature.

Bredesen, a Democrat, has long complained about the proliferation of specialty tags, urging lawmakers to rein in the number of plates available in Tennessee.

He expressed the same concern in a letter Thursday to Republican House Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton.

The state's specialty plates program began about two decades ago as a way to help fund the Tennessee Arts Commission, which receives 40 percent of the additional $35 the plates cost.

The 16 designs this year include United Way, Rotary International and Colon Cancer Awareness. Any new plate must get 1,000 pre-orders before it can go into production.