- April 23, 2024
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Lawmakers continue to fight over the size of the state’s specialty license-plate program with just days left in the annual legislative session.
Two years after approving a major overhaul of the program, the House on Monday, March 7, took up a Senate bill (SB 364) and approved a change that would cut the maximum number of plate designs at any one time from 150 to 135. Also, the House plan would reduce a pre-sale benchmark from 4,000 to 3,000 for out-of-state university plates to be approved for sale.
Rep. Alex Rizo, R-Hialeah, said the proposal “establishes a bit of a standard as to the cap that we will have on plates.” The House could vote Tuesday on the revamped bill.
“This will afford for anyone in the future that wishes to proffer a bill to have a specialty plate to offer it and have the pre-sale period,” Rizo said. “And if demand is out there, people will have their say in their voice, and can express themselves on the back of their cars all over Florida.”
The 2020 law set a cap of 150 specialty plates, up from 123 currently on the road. It also increased from 1,000 to 3,000 the number of most specialty plates that need to be pre-sold before moving forward or for a design to remain on the road.
The law also opened plate designs to three non-Florida schools: the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia and Auburn University. However, each out-of-state school was required to hit a pre-sale mark of 4,000 within 24 months.
The Senate version of this year’s bill, approved in a 38-0 vote last week, sought to cut the pre-sale total to 2,500 for all plates and restart a 24-month clock for all plates to remain on the pre-sale list. The House would go along with restarting the 24-month clock.
Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, said last week the license-tag program has suffered because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID has happened. It changed everything,” Perry said.
Under the Senate version, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, an America the Beautiful tag -- linked to a Tampa program supporting military communities, including the development of playgrounds and other outdoor recreational areas -- would instantly surpass the pre-sale mark. The American Beautiful tag was at 2,943 pre-sold as of Monday morning.
The Auburn plate is the closest among the out-of-state universities to the new goal lines under both proposals, with presales at 2,096. The Alabama tag has reached 1,412 presales while the Georgia plate is at 439.
Since the 2020 changes, specialty plates for the Blue Angels, Coastal Conservation and Walt Disney World have met the new requirements. Both the House and Senate versions of the new bill would expand the Blue Angel plate offering to be available for motorcycles.
The Senate proposal also would allow pre-sales on designs for the following specialty plates: Inter Miami CF, Safe Haven for Newborns, Pap Corps Champions for Cancer Research, Learn to Fly, Florida Swims, Ethical Ecotourism, Down Syndrome Awareness and Gopher Tortoise.
The House changes replaced Ethical Ecotourism with Take Stock in Children.
If the House approves the revised bill, the issue would bounce back to the Senate. The legislative session is scheduled to end Friday.
