Allocating specific amounts of money to specific projects has always been a fools game. You can buy all the special license plates you want, and ALL that money WILL go into whatever pot of money you want. But that does not, and cannot, prohibit the State legislature from decreasing the funding from that same pot of money, by the same amount. Sorta like "put it in at the top, and then take it out at the bottom". So the amount of money for salmon restoration (or whatever) stays the same. It has been like this since State legislatures were created. And it won't change. That is because we, as taxpayers, can put all the money into State government as we want. But only the State legislature can decide how that money is spent.

Only a fool would believe that if they decide to deposit money into the State's coffers (via special license plates or whatever), they are entitled to directly decide how that money is spent. That cannot happen.

The government is not lying to anyone on this. As taxpayers, (or buyers of special license plates) it's our responsibility to understand how government operates.