320.08053 Establishment of specialty license plates.—
(1) If a specialty license plate requested by an organization is approved by law, the organization must submit the proposed art design for the specialty license plate to the department, in a medium prescribed by the department, as soon as practicable, but no later than 60 days after the act approving the specialty license plate becomes a law.
(2)(a) Within 120 days after the specialty license plate becomes law, the department shall establish a method to issue a specialty license plate voucher to allow for the presale of the specialty license plate. The processing fee as prescribed in s. 320.08056, the service charge and branch fee as prescribed in s. 320.04, and the annual use fee as prescribed in s. 320.08056 shall be charged for the voucher. All other applicable fees shall be charged at the time of issuance of the license plates.
(b) Within 24 months after the presale specialty license plate voucher is established, the approved specialty license plate organization must record with the department a minimum of 3,000 voucher sales before manufacture of the license plate may commence. The department shall extend this presale period by an additional 24 months for an approved specialty license plate organization that, as of June 15, 2022, is in the presale period but has not recorded at least 3,000 voucher sales. If, at the conclusion of the presale period, the minimum sales requirement has not been met, the specialty plate is deauthorized, and the department shall discontinue development of the plate and discontinue issuance of the presale vouchers. Upon deauthorization of the license plate or if the plate has met the presale requirement but has not been issued, a purchaser of the license plate voucher may use the annual use fee collected as a credit towards any other specialty license plate or apply for a refund on a form prescribed by the department.
(3)(a) New specialty license plates that have been approved by law but are awaiting issuance under paragraph (b) shall be issued in the order they appear in s. 320.08058 provided that they have met the presale requirement. All other provisions of this section must also be met before a specialty license plate may be issued. If the next awaiting specialty license plate has not met the presale requirement, the department shall proceed in the order provided in s. 320.08058 to identify the next qualified specialty license plate that has met the presale requirement. The department shall cycle through the list in statutory order.
(b) If the Legislature has approved 135 or more specialty license plates, the department may not issue any new specialty license plates until a sufficient number of plates are discontinued pursuant to s. 320.08056(8) such that the number of plates being issued does not exceed 135. Notwithstanding s. 320.08056(8)(a), the 135-license-plate limit includes license plates above the minimum sales threshold and those exempt from that threshold.
1(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the department shall extend the presale period for the Florida State Beekeepers Association by an additional 12 months. This subsection expires July 1, 2025.
History.—s. 1, ch. 95-282; s. 1, ch. 98-414; s. 3, ch. 2004-337; s. 21, ch. 2008-176; s. 22, ch. 2010-223; s. 10, ch. 2015-163; s. 5, ch. 2020-181; s. 1, ch. 2021-177; ss. 1, 4, ch. 2022-189; s. 86, ch. 2024-228.
1Note.—Section 86, ch. 2024-228, added subsection (4) “[i]n order to implement Specific Appropriation 2784 of the 2024-2025 General Appropriations Act.”
