Since last October, decorative license plate frames have become a problem for many Florida drivers, including Iñigo Aldecoa. 

“I had just bought this car a couple days ago. A couple days before, and it was my first time driving the car, and it was the license frame that the dealership had given me,” he said.

Aldecoa was fined $176 under a new law that prohibits interfering “with the legibility…visibility, or detectability of any feature or detail on the license plate.” The new law elevated what used to be a civil infraction to a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail.

But what exactly qualifies as a “feature or detail”? That’s the question. 

Demarquize Dawson was arrested by Davie Police while driving a rental car.

“He said I’m arresting you because the ‘S’ on your license plate is obscured,” Dawson told NBC6. 

Davie Police later dismissed the case and acknowledged that the law’s initial wording “was vague… and appeared to be open for misinterpretation.”

Amid inconsistent enforcement, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles clarified in December that frames are legal as long as they do not obstruct the visibility of the alphanumeric plate identifier and registration sticker.

Attorney Charlie Whorton’s law firm Ticket Toro has been investigating the impact of the new law, Florida Statute 320.061.

“To this day, and it’s increasing every day, around 1,000 people…have gotten tickets, criminal citations, where they have to actually appear in front of a criminal judge with the potential threat of a misdemeanor,” he said.

Using court data they obtained, Ticket Toro created an interactive map showing how many drivers have been ticketed by area in South Florida.

The attorneys at Ticket Toro say their map shows enforcement is so inconsistent that a driver could be in Miami Beach with a license plate frame and face misdemeanor charges, then drive into Doral and be considered in compliance.

“It becomes a geographic lottery whether you’re getting pulled over for a criminal offense. We allege that Florida Statute 320.061 fails to give you and me, the drivers, sufficient notice as to what is legal and what is illegal when it comes to what is on our license plate frame,” said attorney Anna Quesada, who called the law “vague.”

In a statement, State Representative Doug Bankson, the bill’s sponsor, told NBC6, “The tag flipping bill was never intended to address or affect license plate frames, and once I became aware of the confusion, I immediately began working first with law enforcement statewide, and with the FLHSMV to correct the error for both law enforcement and the public, and also to correct language in the statutes. We currently have language in legislation to correct the misconception and add clarity so that no one is pulled over or ticketed for license frames wrongfully.”

In their efforts to challenge the law, Ticket Toro asked a judge to throw out a misdemeanor charge against a driver whose license plate frame partially covered the “S” in “Sunshine.” The judge agreed.

Now, the attorneys are asking that same judge to call this an issue of great public importance and send it to an appellate court for a final decision.

Meanwhile, it’s been two months since Aldecoa got the citation in Miami Beach, and it has yet to appear in court records. According to Ticket Toro’s map, that agency leads in issuing these citations in South Florida. NBC6 asked them how they are enforcing this law, but did not hear back.