Bill Text: FL S2638 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Specialty License Plates [CPSC]

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on Higher Education, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/HB 971 (Ch. 2010-223) [S2638 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S2638-Comm_Sub.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                             CS for SB 2638 
 
By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Siplin 
596-04814-10                                          20102638c1 
1                        A bill to be entitled 
2         An act relating to specialty license plates; amending 
3         s. 45 of chapter 2008-176, Laws of Florida; delaying 
4         the expiration of the moratorium on the issuance of 
5         new specialty license plates by the Department of 
6         Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles; amending s. 
7         320.08053, F.S.; removing provisions requiring that an 
8         organization seeking authorization to establish a new 
9         specialty license plate submit a sample survey of 
10         motor vehicle owners to the department; requiring that 
11         the department establish a method to issue vouchers 
12         allowing the presale of a specialty license plate; 
13         requiring that an organization that is approved to 
14         issue a specialty license plate record with the 
15         department a minimum number of voucher sales in order 
16         to proceed with the development of the plate; 
17         providing for the purchaser of a voucher to receive a 
18         refund or use the voucher to purchase of another 
19         license plate if the specialty plate is deauthorized; 
20         amending ss. 320.08056 and 320.08058, F.S.; conforming 
21         provisions to changes made by the act; creating the 
22         the Hispanics Settled Florida in 1513 license plate; 
23         establishing an annual use fee for the plate; 
24         providing for the distribution of use fees received 
25         from the sale of such plate; providing an effective 
26         date. 
27 
28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
29 
30         Section 1. Section 45 of chapter 2008-176, Laws of Florida, 
31  is amended to read: 
32         Section 45. Except for a specialty license plate proposal 
33  which has submitted a letter of intent to the Department of 
34  Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles prior to May 2, 2008, and 
35  which has submitted a valid survey, marketing strategy, and 
36  application fee as required by s. 320.08053, Florida Statutes, 
37  prior to October 1, 2008 the effective date of this act, or 
38  which was included in a bill filed during the 2008 Legislative 
39  Session, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles may 
40  not issue any new specialty license plates pursuant to ss. 
41  320.08056 and 320.08058, Florida Statutes, between July 1, 2008, 
42  and July 1, 2014 2011. 
43         Section 2. Section 320.08053, Florida Statutes, is amended 
44  to read: 
45         320.08053 Requirements for requests to establish specialty 
46  license plates.— 
47         (1) An organization that seeks authorization to establish a 
48  new specialty license plate for which an annual use fee is to be 
49  charged must submit to the department: 
50         (a) A request for the particular specialty license plate 
51  being sought, describing the proposed specialty license plate in 
52  specific terms, including a sample plate that conforms to the 
53  specifications set by the department and this chapter, and that 
54  is in substantially final form. 
55         (b) The results of a scientific sample survey of Florida 
56  motor vehicle owners that indicates at least 30,000 motor 
57  vehicle owners intend to purchase the proposed specialty license 
58  plate at the increased cost. As used in this paragraph, the term 
59  “scientific sample survey” means information that is gathered 
60  from a representative subset of the population as a whole. The 
61  sample survey of registered motor vehicle owners must be 
62  performed independently of the requesting organization by an 
63  organization that conducts similar sample surveys as a normal 
64  course of business. Prior to conducting a sample survey for the 
65  purposes of this section, a requesting organization must obtain 
66  a determination from the department that the organization 
67  selected to conduct the survey performs similar surveys as a 
68  normal course of business and is independent of the requesting 
69  organization. The methodology, results, and any evaluation by 
70  the department of the scientific sample survey shall be 
71  validated by the Auditor General as a condition precedent to 
72  submission of the specialty license plate for approval by the 
73  Legislature. 
74         (b)(c) An application fee, not to exceed $60,000, to defray 
75  the department’s cost for reviewing the application and 
76  developing the specialty license plate, if authorized. State 
77  funds may not be used to pay the application fee, except for 
78  collegiate specialty license plates authorized in s. 
79  320.08058(3) and (13). The specialty license plate application 
80  provisions of this act shall not apply to any organization which 
81  has requested and received the required forms for obtaining a 
82  specialty license plate authorization from the Department of 
83  Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, has opened a bank account for 
84  the funds collected for the specialty license tag and has made 
85  deposits to such an account, and has obtained signatures toward 
86  completing the requirements for the specialty license tag. All 
87  applications requested on or after the effective date of this 
88  act must meet the requirements of this act. 
89         (c)(d) A marketing strategy outlining short-term and long 
90  term marketing plans for the requested specialty license plate 
91  and a financial analysis outlining the anticipated revenues and 
92  the planned expenditures of the revenues to be derived from the 
93  sale of the requested specialty license plates. 
94 
95         The information required under this subsection must be 
96  submitted to the department at least 90 days before the 
97  convening of the next regular session of the Legislature. 
98         (2) If the specialty license plate requested by the 
99  organization is approved by law, the organization must submit 
100  the proposed art design for the specialty license plate to the 
101  department, in a medium prescribed by the department, as soon as 
102  practicable, but no later than 60 days after the act approving 
103  the specialty license plate becomes a law. If the specialty 
104  license plate requested by the organization is not approved by 
105  the Legislature or does not meet the presale requirements in 
106  subsection (3), the application fee shall be refunded to the 
107  requesting organization. 
108         (3)(a) Within 120 days following the specialty license 
109  plate becoming law, the department shall establish a method to 
110  issue a specialty license plate voucher to allow for the presale 
111  of the specialty license plate. The processing fee as prescribed 
112  in s. 320.08056, the service charge and branch fee as prescribed 
113  in s. 320.04, and the annual use fee as prescribed in s. 
114  320.08056 shall be charged for the voucher. All other applicable 
115  fees shall be charged at the time of issuance of the license 
116  plates. 
117         (b) Within 24 months after the presale specialty license 
118  plate voucher is established, the approved specialty license 
119  plate organization must record with the department a minimum of 
120  1,000 voucher sales before manufacture of the license plate may 
121  commence. If, at the conclusion of the 24-month presale period, 
122  the minimum sales requirements have not been met, the specialty 
123  plate is deauthorized and the department shall discontinue 
124  development of the plate and discontinue issuance of the presale 
125  vouchers. Upon deauthorization of the license plate, a purchaser 
126  of the license plate voucher may use the annual use fee 
127  collected as a credit towards any other specialty license plate 
128  or apply for a refund on a form prescribed by the department. 
129         (c) An organization that meets the requirements of this 
130  subsection shall be deemed to have submitted a valid survey for 
131  purposes of s. 45 of chapter 2008-176, Laws of Florida, as 
132  amended. 
133         Section 3. Subsection (1) and paragraph (b) of subsection 
134  (8) of section 320.08056, Florida Statutes, are amended, and 
135  paragraph (rrr) is added to subsection (4) of that section, to 
136  read: 
137         320.08056 Specialty license plates.— 
138         (1) The department is responsible for developing the 
139  specialty license plates authorized in s. 320.08053. The 
140  department shall begin production and distribution of each new 
141  specialty license plate within 1 year after approval of the 
142  specialty license plate by the Legislature. 
143         (4) The following license plate annual use fees shall be 
144  collected for the appropriate specialty license plates: 
145         (rrr) Hispanics Settled Florida in 1513 license plate, $25. 
146         (8) 
147         (b) The department is authorized to discontinue the 
148  issuance of a specialty license plate and distribution of 
149  associated annual use fee proceeds if the organization no longer 
150  exists, if the organization has stopped providing services that 
151  are authorized to be funded from the annual use fee proceeds, if 
152  the organization does not meet the presale requirements as 
153  prescribed in s. 320.08053(3), or pursuant to an organizational 
154  recipient’s request. Organizations shall are required to notify 
155  the department immediately to stop all warrants for plate sales 
156  if any of the conditions in this section exist, and must meet 
157  the requirements of s. 320.08062 for any period of operation 
158  during a fiscal year. 
159         Section 4. Subsection (70) is added to section 320.08058, 
160  Florida Statutes, to read: 
161         320.08058 Specialty license plates.— 
162         (70) HISPANICS SETTLED FLORIDA IN 1513 LICENSE PLATES.— 
163         (a) Upon the National Hispanics Corporate Achievers, Inc., 
164  meeting the requirements of s. 320.08053, the department shall 
165  develop a Hispanics Settled Florida in 1513 license plate as 
166  provided in this section. The plate must bear the colors and 
167  design approved by the department. The word “Florida” must 
168  appear at the top of the plate and the words 
169  “WWW.HISPANICACHIEVERS.ORG” must appear at the bottom of the 
170  plate. 
171         (b) The annual use fees shall be distributed to National 
172  Hispanic Corporate Achievers, Inc., an organization in Longwood 
173  which sponsors minority job fairs. National Hispanic Corporate 
174  Achievers, Inc., shall use the funds as follows: 
175         1. Ten percent shall be distributed to the Valencia 
176  Community College Foundation to fund scholarship grants to 
177  Hispanic students; 
178         2. Ten percent shall be distributed to Anna G. Mendez 
179  University to fund scholarship grants to Hispanic students; 
180         3. Thirty percent shall be distributed to the Florida 
181  Hispanic Foundation to fund scholarship grants to community 
182  colleges in this state, as determined by the foundation; and 
183         4. The remaining funds shall be used by Hispanic Corporate 
184  Achievers, Inc., to fund job-development programs, job fairs, 
185  and educational seminars in this state. 
186         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.