What to Know
- Currently, there are 123 specialty plates available to Florida drivers – however, a different bill would cap the number of tags in the state
Drivers in Florida who are in the market to buy a specialty license plate or renew their current one could have as many as two dozen new options to choose from on top of the over 100 already available.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that bills have been filed for at least 21 new plates that will be introduced when the Florida Legislature begins their two-month session on March 5th.
Some of the tags being proposed includes ones honoring the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, which would raise money for mental health counseling for survivors, as well as plates to raise money to fight childhood cancer and a "Marino Campus" plate going toward the Dan Marino Foundation to help those with developmental disabilities live independent lives.
Three tags are being proposed for out of state colleges – the University of Alabama, Auburn University and the University of Georgia – after being sponsored by booster clubs for those schools in Florida.
Currently, there are 123 specialty plates available to Florida drivers – however, a different bill would cap the number of tags in the state at 125 and call for the elimination of several choices by raising the number of required tags purchased from 1,000 to 3,000 (and 4,000 for out of state schools) and would force a tag to be removed before any future ones are added.
In total, over 1.5 million specialty tags are on Florida’s roads with the last new plates being approved during the 2014 Legislative session.
Local
As of January 1st, the University of Florida has the top selling specialty plate in the state with over 92,000 sold – followed by sea turtles, Endless Summer surfing, Florida State University and Protect Wild Dolphins rounding out the top five.
The Miami Heat plate ranks 10th in the state in sales while being the top pro sports plate with the Miami Dolphins being ranked third among sports teams and the Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers being the bottom two in that group. The University of Miami ranks 15th in the state among all sales.