{"id":90427,"date":"2025-12-20T12:13:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T12:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/90427\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T12:13:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T12:13:30","slug":"now-what-heres-everything-being-done-to-clarify-floridas-license-plate-law-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/90427\/","title":{"rendered":"Now what? Here\u2019s everything being done to clarify Florida\u2019s license plate law confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 The \u201cLicense vs Law<\/a>\u201d debate has sparked widespread confusion for weeks as Florida Statutes<\/a> now upgrade the penalty to a second-degree misdemeanor for anyone covering or interfering with the visibility of a license plate\u2019s primary features, specifically the number and the validation sticker.<\/p>\n

Now the big question is, \u201cWhat\u2019s being done to clarify the law and get everyone on the same page about enforcement?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association, said on his end, work to clarify the language of the law for his more-than 900 dealers and thousands of customers started immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first and foremost thing is we want to have safety for our law enforcement. That\u2019s the whole purpose of having a tag on your car to begin with,\u201d Smith said, adding he sent a memo to his auto dealers suggesting they toss out any advertising frames they had concerns about.<\/p>\n

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n

Turns out, those concerns cost at least one auto dealer upwards of $7,000 after Smith said the business didn\u2019t want to risk putting a license plate frame on a vehicle that obstructed too much information.<\/p>\n

But what is too much? <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of what the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Seminole County Sheriff\u2019s Office said is acceptable:<\/p>\n

License plate (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Despite the top and bottom writing on the plate being partially covered, the alphanumeric sequence in the middle, along with the tag at the top right, are 100% visible.<\/p>\n

That is what Smith says is the primary way law enforcement can identify the owner of a vehicle and where it is registered.<\/p>\n

In fact, Smith explained there are two separate laws that need to be understood. One addresses license plate frames and the other tackles \u201cobscuring devices.\u201d <\/p>\n

The latter is what\u2019s causing confusion because it\u2019s really meant to go after \u201cbad people doing bad things\u201d Smith explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want that for the purpose of perhaps running tolls; maybe they want to rob a bank and get away with a crime,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

To his understanding and many experts News 6 has spoken to about this, license plate frames were never meant to be considered obscuring devices, though our investigators pulled records from a handful of police departments who did ticket drivers for them.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: What are Florida\u2019s newest rules for license plate frames?]<\/p>\n

Which is why another prompt course of action from auto dealers was their offer to remove frames for concerned customers and, in a few cases, suggesting they will cover the ticket tab if a customer finds themselves in hot water.<\/p>\n

Rep. Doug Bankson, R-District 39, is a sponsor for the legislation. He addressed the situation, offering the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy to hear that the confusion around HB 253 that went into effect October 1st of this year is beginning to resolve. It was never the intent of this law to penalize license plate frames. License plate standards have been in place since 2015 and that has not changed. The purpose of this law is only focused on the alphanumeric number and car registration sticker on the license plate being covered to avoid paying tolls that help fund our transportation and infrastructure. I\u2019m supportive in the future of any clarifying language if necessary so that the intention of the law is clear for both law enforcement and public at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 The \u201cLicense vs Law\u201d debate has sparked widespread confusion for weeks as Florida Statutes now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,100,29,45418,99,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-90427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-legislature","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-license-plates","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90427","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=90427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}