Despite not passing the budget for the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year last week, the Florida Legislature adjourned Sine Die on Friday. Legislators are expected to return to Tallahassee in mid-April for a special session to finish the budget process as well as address property taxes and congressional redistricting.  

With the budget process on standby at the moment, this week’s column will be a slight detour on the work I did this legislative session on correcting issues with the license plate obscuring law that I sponsored last year. 

House Bill (HB) 253 is officially titled Offenses Involving Motor Vehicles but also known as the “tag flipping” or license plate obscuring law. It was brought to me last session by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.  

From 2022 to 2023, there had been a 150% increase in covering or obscuring license plates to avoid detection for a traffic ticket, and this had also hindered crime solving due to purposefully inhibiting detection. The bill (as signed into law) defined “license plate obscuring devices” as “a manual, electronic, or mechanical device designed or adapted to be installed on a motor vehicle,” and it imposes penalties on the possession and use of license plate obscuring devices.  

For possessing or using a license plate obscuring device is a second-degree misdemeanor; for manufacturing or selling a license plate obscuring device, it is a first-degree misdemeanor; and anyone using a license plate obscuring device as defined in Florida Statutes 320.262 during a commission of a crime will be charged with a third-degree felony. This law went into effect on Oct. 1. 

Despite the new law’s good intentions, law enforcement agencies around the state reported issues with implementing the law primarily due to confusion with whether decorative license plate frames (i.e., college alma mater, favorite sports team) were considered a violation of the law. Several representatives reached out to me with concerns from their constituents who had contacted them after being pulled over citing this new law. 

In response to these concerns, I worked together with Reps. Taylor Yarkosky and Berny Jacques, Sen. Ralph Massullo, the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), Florida Sheriff’s Association (FSA) and Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, to help add clarity into the statute (Florida Statutes 320.061) for law enforcement and residents.  

Specifically, this new language clarifies that license plate frames are not affected unless they cover the alphanumeric number and informational sticker. We were fortunately able to pass the language through Senate Bill (SB) 488 / HB 937 that is now headed to the governor’s desk for approval before going into law. 

In the coming weeks, I plan to share more updates with you on our work in Tallahassee this session, and I hope to have more updates on the state’s budget as well as property taxes.