{"id":187257,"date":"2026-03-11T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187257\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:12:07","slug":"florida-legislature-approves-driving-school-oversight-bill-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187257\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Legislature approves driving school oversight bill | Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Florida Legislature has approved a bill aimed at strengthening oversight of commercial driving schools connected to driver license services, a measure supporters say will help protect consumers and improve roadway safety.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2026\/584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Senate Bill 584<\/a>, sponsored by Miami legislators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/senators\/s39\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sen. Bryan Avila<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flhouse.gov\/Sections\/Representatives\/custom\/details.aspx?MemberId=4929&amp;LegislativeTermId=91\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rep. Omar Blanco<\/a>, passed both chambers of the Legislature and now heads to the governor\u2019s desk for final consideration.<\/p>\n<p>If signed into law, the legislation would allow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flhsmv.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles<\/a> to enter into agreements with county tax collectors to delegate certain enforcement authority over driving schools operating near driver license offices.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mdctaxcollector.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez<\/a> said the measure will help close oversight gaps that have allowed some operators to mislead customers or disrupt licensing operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic safety must always come first,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cMany driving schools operate with professionalism and serve as valued partners in helping residents navigate the licensing process. However, when bad actors exploit gaps in oversight, mislead customers, or interfere with operations at our facilities, we must have the authority to act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fernandez said the legislation would strengthen consumer protections while supporting responsible businesses that assist residents with the licensing process.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"florida-driver-license-road-test-evaluation.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full default\" width=\"1064\" height=\"756\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>An evaluator records results during a driver road test. A newly approved Florida bill aims to strengthen oversight of commercial driving schools tied to the driver licensing process.<\/p>\n<p>                                    Canva Pro<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis legislation strengthens integrity, protects residents from exploitation, and ensures we can work collaboratively with responsible driving schools to maintain a driver license system that is fair, secure, and worthy of the public\u2019s trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Avila said the bill aims to create consistent enforcement across the state while allowing local offices to address issues occurring at their facilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis legislation ensures consistent, statewide enforcement while allowing local offices flexibility to address issues occurring directly on their premises,\u201d Avila said. \u201cWe want to make sure that every driver on Florida\u2019s roadways is properly trained, qualified, and lawfully licensed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blanco said the proposal is ultimately about protecting the public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis bill is more than oversight; it is about public safety,\u201d Blanco said. \u201cDriving is a privilege, and Floridians deserve confidence that those receiving a driver license have earned it lawfully and are prepared to operate safely on our roads.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the governor signs the bill, agreements between the state and individual tax collector offices would be optional. Fernandez said the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector\u2019s Office stands ready to work with state partners to implement the measure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida Legislature has approved a bill aimed at strengthening oversight of commercial driving schools connected to driver&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[50205,87927,87926,87925,225,227,226,126,40416,124,87924],"class_list":{"0":"post-187257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-dariel-fernandez","9":"tag-driver-license-enforcement-florida","10":"tag-florida-driving-school-oversight","11":"tag-florida-senate-bill-584","12":"tag-hialeah","13":"tag-hialeah-headlines","14":"tag-hialeah-news","15":"tag-key-biscayne","16":"tag-key-biscayne-news","17":"tag-miami-news","18":"tag-sb-584"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187257","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=187257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}