{"id":76801,"date":"2025-12-09T10:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T10:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/76801\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T10:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T10:15:07","slug":"is-your-license-plate-frame-illegal-heres-what-floridas-new-law-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/76801\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your license plate frame illegal? Here\u2019s what Florida\u2019s new law says"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A recent law that took effect in Florida<\/a> may have some drivers wondering: \u201cCan I be arrested over my license plate?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer? It depends.<\/p>\n

The law in question \u2014 House Bill 253<\/a> \u2014 makes a number of changes to existing rules for motor vehicle crimes in Florida, and license plates play a big part in these changes.<\/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

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

[BELOW: Do I really have to light my Florida license plate?]<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Florida Sheriff\u2019s Association put out a message to clarify some of the misconceptions about their own \u201cFSA\u201d plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFSA license plate frames are not designed to cover or obscure any part of a license plate and do not violate the new law when installed correctly,\u201d FSA officials wrote.<\/p>\n

In short, so long as a driver isn\u2019t obscuring the important parts of the license plate, it should be safe under the law.<\/p>\n

That being said, anyone who is 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":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A recent law that took effect in Florida may have some drivers wondering: \u201cCan I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6919,28,30,100,29,99,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-76801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-features","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-legislature","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76801","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=76801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}