A highway interchange in Sunrise, Florida. 595/I-75 flyover. By felixmizioznikov via iStock for WMNF News.
Jim Turner ©2026 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Florida may soon have new rules for electric bicycle users and to ease motorists’ concerns about license plate frames.
Also, Gov. Ron DeSantis will decide on altering names affixed to several roads and airports, with legislation emphasizing President Donald Trump.
But 2026 wasn’t a year of major transportation policy changes, as various proposals stalled when the session concluded without a budget.
And without a spending plan, billions of dollars needed for roads, bridges, seaports and airports must wait until lawmakers return to Tallahassee in mid-April to complete the fiscal year 2026-2027 spending plan.
Here’s a look at what happened to transportation issues in 2026:
VEHICLE REGISTRATION
A proposal backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to eliminate the need to place yellow vehicle registration stickers on license plates failed to pass. The House backed the proposal (HB 841) to make registration electronic in a 93-17 vote. However, the proposal never reached the Senate and an effort to attach the provision to a larger transportation package failed.
LICENSE PLATE FRAMES
A more successful effort sought to clear up a 2025 law that stated frames placed around a license plate are illegal when obscuring any alphanumeric character, the registration sticker, or the state name. The 2025 law was directed at people who try to obscure their plates. But the measure raised questions about how much the frame could broach over the state name or sticker before running afoul of the law.
Legislation (SB 488) that will be considered by DeSantis followed a Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles memo issued in December that sought to clarify that the frames are fine as long as they don’t obscure the primary features of the license plate, essentially the letters and numbers, or the registration sticker.
PUBLIC PARKING
Another measure that sought to address the affects of a 2025 law wasn’t as fortunate.
Last year, Sarasota Republican Rep. Fiona McFarland backed a state law that allows pregnant women to use parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities. But that reportedly often left people with valid disabled parking permits or plates having to park in other spaces, which don’t have as much room for those to get in and out of their vehicle.
McFarland put forward a measure that would have allowed those with valid permits and plates to occupy more than one non-handicapped parking space but it failed to pass before the end of session.
E-BIKES
An effort to tighten rules on the use of electric bicycles — vehicles that have pedals, a seat and an electric motor of less than 750 watts — is headed to DeSantis. The measure (SB 382) in part would require e-bike operators to slow to 10 mph when within 50 feet of a pedestrian on sidewalks and other shared pathways. Those operators would also have to audibly warn a pedestrian before passing. Violators could be ticketed similar to a non-moving violation for a driver. The measure also creates a safety taskforce within the DHSMV to make additional “traffic safety” recommendations for electric bicycle operations.
AIRPORT NAMES
Republican lawmakers agreed to attach President Donald Trump’s name to Palm Beach International Airport (HB 919). The bill gives the state the power to name the major commercial service airports in Florida, taking it away from local governments. Meanwhile, legislators were more universally supportive of a transportation package that featured numerous road dedications that also affixed late Florida State University Football Coach Bobby Bowden’s name to Tallahassee International Airport (SB 628).
VERTIPORTS
For the past two years, state Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue has pushed to make Florida more friendly to the next generation of air transport companies by establishing “vertiports” in urban areas. These “vertiports” would become hubs for short aerial commutes by battery-powered aircraft that have characteristics of airplanes and helicopters. Legislation fully backed by both chambers this year allows the Florida Department of Transportation to fund 100 percent of the project costs of a public vertiport if federal funds are not available (HB 1093). If federal funds are available, FDOT may fund up to 80 percent of the nonfederal share.
ROADS
Palm Beach International Airport wasn’t the only homage Republicans made to the sitting president.
Commercial Boulevard within Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is proposed as “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard” (HB 33) and State Road 80, stretching 124 miles from Palm Beach to Lee County was backed as “President Donald J. Trump Highway” (SB 628).
Meanwhile, part of S.W. 107th Avenue in Miami-Dade County was approved as “Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue” (HB 33) after the slain conservative commentator. A separate effort to require all state universities and colleges to rename roads after Kirk wasn’t put before a committee.
In Tallahassee, College Avenue between Copeland Street and South Monroe Street would be named after late FSU President John Thrasher, who was also a long-time state lawmaker (SB 628).
Potentially adding to Florida’s extensive list of specialty tags, lawmakers approved a package (SB 246) that would start the process for create plates that include the Miami Northwestern Alumni Association, Christopher Columbus High School, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, Miami Dade College, Florida Film Legacy, and St. Petersburg College.