Florida Senate - 2025 SB 824
By Senator Pizzo
37-00391A-25 2025824__
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
5 Supporting FHP Troopers license plate; providing for
6 distribution and use of fees collected from the sale
7 of the plate; amending ss. 320.08053 and 320.08056,
8 F.S.; exempting the plate from minimum presale voucher
9 requirements and minimum valid registration
10 requirements, respectively; providing an effective
11 date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Subsection (136) is added to section 320.08058,
16 Florida Statutes, to read:
17 320.08058 Specialty license plates.—
18 (136) SUPPORTING FHP TROOPERS LICENSE PLATES.—
19 (a) The department shall develop a Supporting FHP Troopers
20 license plate as provided in this section and s. 320.08053. The
21 plate must bear the colors and design approved by the
22 department. The word “Florida” must appear at the top of the
23 plate, and the words “Supporting FHP Troopers” must appear at
24 the bottom of the plate.
25 (b) The annual use fees from the sale of the plate must be
26 distributed to the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council,
27 Inc., a nonprofit organization under s. 501(c)(3) of the
28 Internal Revenue Code, which may use up to 10 percent of the
29 fees for administrative costs and marketing of the plate. The
30 Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council, Inc., must use the
31 remaining fees to fund scholarships, based on the council’s
32 established criteria, for current members of the Florida Highway
33 Patrol and their family members who are attending a vocational
34 school, technical school, college, or university. For purposes
35 of this paragraph, the term “family member” means a spouse,
36 child, stepchild, or legally adopted child of the Florida
37 Highway Patrol member or a child raised in the home and claimed
38 by the Florida Highway Patrol member as a dependent under the
39 federal income tax code before the child’s 18th birthday.
40 Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section
41 320.08053, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
42 320.08053 Establishment of specialty license plates.—
43 (2)
44 (b) Within 24 months after the presale specialty license
45 plate voucher is established, the approved specialty license
46 plate organization must record with the department a minimum of
47 3,000 voucher sales before manufacture of the license plate may
48 commence. The department shall extend this presale period by an
49 additional 24 months for an approved specialty license plate
50 organization that, as of June 15, 2022, is in the presale period
51 but has not recorded at least 3,000 voucher sales. If, at the
52 conclusion of the presale period, the minimum sales requirement
53 has not been met, the specialty plate is deauthorized, and the
54 department shall discontinue development of the plate and
55 discontinue issuance of the presale vouchers. Upon
56 deauthorization of the license plate or if the plate has met the
57 presale requirement but has not been issued, a purchaser of the
58 license plate voucher may use the annual use fee collected as a
59 credit towards any other specialty license plate or apply for a
60 refund on a form prescribed by the department. This paragraph
61 does not apply to the Supporting FHP Troopers license plate
62 established under s. 320.08058(136).
63 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (8) of section
64 320.08056, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
65 320.08056 Specialty license plates.—
66 (8)(a) The department must discontinue the issuance of an
67 approved specialty license plate if the number of valid
68 specialty plate registrations falls below 3,000, or in the case
69 of an out-of-state college or university license plate, 4,000,
70 for at least 12 consecutive months. The department shall mail a
71 warning letter to the sponsoring organization following the
72 first month in which the total number of valid specialty plate
73 registrations is below 3,000, or in the case of an out-of-state
74 college or university license plate, 4,000. This paragraph does
75 not apply to any of the following:
76 1. In-state collegiate license plates established under s.
77 320.08058(3).,
78 2. License plates of institutions in and entities of the
79 State University System.,
80 3. Specialty license plates that have statutory eligibility
81 limitations for purchase.,
82 4. Specialty license plates for which annual use fees are
83 distributed by a foundation for student and teacher leadership
84 programs and teacher recruitment and retention., or
85 5. Florida Professional Sports Team license plates
86 established under s. 320.08058(9).
87 6. The Supporting FHP Troopers license plate established
88 under s. 320.08058(136).
89 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025.