A bill to create specialty Virginia license plates in honor of Tommie the pit bull is moving forward.

Richmond Animal Care and Control announced via its Facebook page that the Team Tommie license plate bill passed its first committee hearing.

That comes after the shelter met a required goal of pre-selling 450 license plates before submitting a bill to the General Assembly.

It will have to be passed by both the House of Delegates and Senate and then signed by Gov. Ralph Northam/

After that, the DMV takes over and develops the plates for public purchase, which can take up to nine months.

Part of all sales of the license plates will go toward the shelter's 'Tommie Fund.'

Tommie the pit bull died

after RACC did all they could for him after he was set on fire in a public park.

People across the country and the world rallied to support the dog, donating massive amounts of money in his honor.

Jyahshua A. Hill, 20, was

by the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force and charged with one count of felony animal cruelty in the case.

He was

in August.

A “Tommie Fund”

and has raised tens of thousands of dollars to help animal shelters across Virginia.

Any #TeamTommie license plates sold, if they're approved by the General Assembly, will mean that some of the sales revenue will go to that fund.