License Plate Information:

State Horizontal Only? Clearly legible?  
Kansas No Yes  
Colorado Yes Yes  
Arkansas      
Missouri      
California No Yes  
       
       
       
       

Whose state law (licensing or one you are in) matters:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20060520/ai_n16453079

DENVER - Motorists traveling in Kansas can be charged with violating the state's law requiring license plates to be clearly visible even if a motorist's home state law has no such requirement, a court ruled Friday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Michigan motorist in Kansas violated the Kansas law by displaying a temporary license tag behind a heavily tinted rear window, even though that display comported with Michigan law. ...
The appellate judges said no Michigan law specifies the proper location of a temporary registration sticker but that Concepcion- Ledesma had followed Michigan instructions on the temporary sticker about placing it in a rear window. Despite that, the trooper acted properly under the Kansas law, the judges said in refusing the defendant's request to suppress the evidence Ranieri found. "We hold that displaying a temporary tag behind a heavily tinted rear window violates a Kansas statute requiring that license plates appear 'in a place and position to be clearly visible,'\u2009" the appellate judges wrote Friday in a 25-page decision. "State troopers therefore did not exceed the permissible scope of their traffic stop by issuing a citation and requesting consent for a subsequent search," the judges wrote.

 

[Kansas Statute] 8-133

Chapter 8.--AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Article 1.--GENERAL PROVISIONS

From: http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/getStatuteInfo.do

      8-133.   Display of license plate. The license plate assigned to the vehicle shall be attached to the rear thereof and shall be so displayed during the current registration year or years, and no Kansas registration plate for any other year shall appear on the front of the vehicle, except that: (a) The license plate issued for a truck tractor shall be attached to the front of the truck tractor; (b) a model year license plate may be attached to the front of an antique vehicle, in accordance with K.S.A. 8-172, and amendments thereto; or (c) a personalized license plate as authorized under subsection (c) of K.S.A. 8-132, and amendments thereto, may be attached to the front of a passenger vehicle or truck. Every license plate shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle to which it is assigned so as to prevent the plate from swinging, and at a height not less than 12 inches from the ground, measuring from the bottom of such plate, in a place and position to be clearly visible, and shall be maintained free from foreign materials and in a condition to be clearly legible. During any period in which the construction of license plates has been suspended pursuant to the provisions of K.S.A. 8-132, and amendments thereto, the plate, tag, token, marker or sign assigned to such vehicle shall be attached to and displayed on such vehicle in such place, position, manner and condition as shall be prescribed by the director of vehicles.

Colorado Statute:

42-3-202. Number plates to be attached.
http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/63d1b/64836/64838/64af4/64b14?fn=document-
http://www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2006/02/05-3167.htm (court case)

(1) Number plates assigned to a self-propelled vehicle other than a motorcycle or street rod vehicle shall be attached thereto, one in the front and the other in the rear. The number plate assigned to a motorcycle, street rod vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, other vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle, or mobile machinery or self-propelled construction equipment shall be attached to the rear thereof. Number plates shall be so displayed during the current registration year, except as otherwise provided in this article.

(2) (a) Every number plate shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle to which it is assigned, so as to prevent the plate from swinging, and shall be horizontal at a height not less than twelve inches from the ground, measuring from the bottom of such plate, in a place and position to be clearly visible, and shall be maintained free from foreign materials and in a condition to be clearly legible.

(b) A person shall not operate a motor vehicle with an affixed device or a substance that causes all or a portion of a license plate to be unreadable by a system used to automatically identify a motor vehicle. Such a device includes, without limitation, a cover that distorts angular visibility; alters the color of the plate; or is smoked, tinted, scratched, or dirty so as to impair the legibility of the license plate.

(3) (a) A person who violates any provision of this section commits a class B traffic infraction.

(b) A person who violates paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section commits a class A traffic infraction and shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars.

 

California

from: http://ktmtalk.com/index.php?showtopic=205236&st=15&#entry1718874

4851. Every license plate shall have displayed upon it the registration number assigned to the vehicle for which it is issued, together with the word "California" or the abbreviation "Cal." and the year number for which it is issued or a suitable device issued by the department for validation purposes, which device shall contain the year number for which issued.

5201. License plates shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle for which they are issued so as to prevent the plates from swinging, shall be mounted in a position so as to be clearly visible, and shall be maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible. The rear license plate shall be mounted not less than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground, and the front license plate shall be mounted not more than 60 inches from the ground...

24601. Either the taillamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear license plate during darkness and render it clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear. When the rear license plate is illuminated by a lamp other than a required taillamp, the two lamps shall be turned on or off only by the same control switch at all times