AUGUSTA – A Republican legislator and cancer survivor from Cumberland introduced a bill Thursday to create a special pink license plate to help finance breast cancer support services.

“This issue is of critical importance,” said Rep. Meredith Strang Burgess. “The money raised by this specialty plate will benefit early detection for underserved and uninsured Maine women, help patients who need financial assistance during treatment and recovery, and invest in research to eradicate breast cancer once and for all.”

Strang Burgess, who presented the bill to the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, said supporters hope to collect 2,000 reservations for the plates by May 1. Meeting that deadline, she said, would help win passage of the bill by the end of the session and set the stage for the plate’s unveiling in time for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2008.

About 1,040 women in Maine are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and 200 Maine women die of the disease, the bill’s supporters said.

The plates would cost $20 beyond the regular motor vehicle registration fee; annual renewals would cost an additional $15.

The bill has bipartisan backing and is co-sponsored by 66 legislators.