Florida Senate - 2020                              CS for SB 322
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Infrastructure and Security; and Senator
       Stewart
       
       
       
       
       596-03044-20                                           2020322c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to specialty license plates; amending
    3         s. 320.08058, F.S.; directing the Department of
    4         Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to develop a Gopher
    5         Tortoise license plate; providing for distribution and
    6         use of fees collected from the sale of the plate;
    7         providing a contingent effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Subsection (85) is added to section 320.08058,
   12  Florida Statutes, to read:
   13         320.08058 Specialty license plates.—
   14         (85) GOPHER TORTOISE LICENSE PLATES.—
   15         (a) The department shall develop a Gopher Tortoise license
   16  plate as provided in this section and s. 320.08053. The plate
   17  must bear the colors and design approved by the department. The
   18  word “Florida” must appear at the top of the plate, and the
   19  words “Protect the Gopher Tortoise” must appear at the bottom of
   20  the plate.
   21         (b) The annual use fees from the sale of the plate shall be
   22  distributed to Wildlands Conservation, Inc., a nonprofit
   23  corporation under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, to
   24  fund gopher tortoise and commensal species research, education,
   25  and conservation, as well as upland habitat protection,
   26  restoration, and management in this state. Up to 15 percent of
   27  the funds received by Wildlands Conservation, Inc., may be used
   28  for marketing of the plate and costs directly associated with
   29  the administration of the gopher tortoise protection program.
   30  Wildlands Conservation, Inc., shall use and distribute the funds
   31  to eligible Florida-based scientific, conservation, and
   32  educational organizations for gopher tortoise and upland habitat
   33  research, conservation, and management.
   34         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2020, but
   35  only if SB 324 or similar legislation takes effect, if such
   36  legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an
   37  extension thereof and becomes a law.