Senate agrees to House terms on specialty license plate changes

Another year brings a new specialty license plate bill.

Another year brings another round of changes to the state’s specialty license plate program.

The Florida Senate passed for the second time SB 364, a measure sponsored by Sen. Aaron Bean. The bill brings some changes to the program after House amendments earlier in the week.

The original Bean bill sought 150 specialty plates, but legislation passed by the House allows for 135 plates. And 3,000 pre-sales will be required for all plates, including out-of-state colleges, which had been set at 4,000.

The bill would begin the development process for Inter Miami CF, Safe Haven for Newborns, Pap Corps Champions for Cancer Research, Learn to Fly, Florida Swims, Down Syndrome Awareness, Take Stock in Children, and Gopher Tortoise license plates.

One tag authorized by the Senate will not make it, however. An amendment from Sen. Lori Berman to reinstate the Ethical Ecotourism tag in the bill failed. That was removed by the House.

“There was no House committee that heard this plate,” said bill sponsor Aaron Bean. “Consider the 30-some-odd plates that will live to fight another day.”

The bill also resets the 24-month clock on how long organizations have to reach the sales threshold number of 3,000.

Of the 60 recently authorized plates, 33 haven’t met the sales threshold required in order to be printed.