{"id":1530,"date":"2025-10-14T05:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T05:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1530\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T05:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T05:56:08","slug":"heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-floridas-new-license-plate-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/1530\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s everything you need to know about Florida\u2019s new \u2018license plate\u2019 law"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Nearly 30 new Florida laws<\/a> took effect earlier this month, including a law that sets more rules surrounding license plates.<\/p>\n

That law \u2014 House Bill 253<\/a> \u2014 makes several changes to existing rules regarding motor vehicle crimes in the state.<\/p>\n

For example, HB 253 sets up harsher penalties for drivers who try to mimic a police officer with red-and-white lights while trying to pull someone over.<\/p>\n

[BELOW: Here\u2019s what to know about Florida\u2019s newest \u2018license plate\u2019 law]<\/p>\n

But HB 253 also says that alterations to license plates now constitute a second-degree misdemeanor, rather than a noncriminal traffic violation.<\/p>\n

This applies to any of the following situations:<\/p>\n

Mutilating or defacing a registered license plate<\/p>\n

Changing the plate\u2019s color<\/p>\n

Applying reflective material, spray, covering or anything else that can obscure the plate<\/p>\n

Attaching an illuminated device that can prevent someone from reading the plate<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Here are all the new Florida laws that took effect on Oct. 1<\/a>]<\/p>\n

As such, anyone found liable under this law may face a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.<\/p>\n

New crimes under HB 253<\/p>\n

However, that\u2019s not all. Under this law, people are also entirely prohibited from doing the following:<\/p>\n

Buying or owning a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d <\/p>\n

Creating or selling a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d<\/p>\n

Using a \u201clicense plate obscuring device\u201d in the commission of a crime<\/p>\n

What counts as a \u201clicense plate obscuring device?\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 253 defines this term as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201c…A manual, electronic, or mechanical device designed or adapted to be installed on a motor vehicle for the purpose of:<\/p>\n

1. Switching between two or more license plates to permit a motor vehicle operator to change the license plate displayed on the motor vehicle;<\/p>\n

2. Hiding a license plate from view by flipping the license plate so that the license plate number is not visible;<\/p>\n

3. Covering, obscuring, or otherwise interfering with the legibility, angular visibility, or detectability of the primary features or details, including the license plate number or validation sticker, on the license plate; or<\/p>\n

4. Interfering with the ability to record the primary features or details, including the license plate number of validation sticker, on the license plate.”<\/p>\n

House Bill 253Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Nearly 30 new Florida laws took effect earlier this month, including a law that sets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,28,30,29,2161,99,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-1530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}