HB 605 creates a new Florida specialty license plate called the “Supporting FHP Troopers” plate. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles would be required to design and implement the plate, which must display “Florida” at the top and “Supporting FHP Troopers” at the bottom. The bill also specifies how the annual use fees from plate sales will be handled: they would go to the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council, Inc., a nonprofit organization, which may retain up to 10 percent for administrative and marketing costs.
The remaining revenue must be used to provide scholarships for current Florida Highway Patrol members and their family members who are attending vocational school, technical school, college, or university. The bill defines “family member” for this purpose to include a spouse, child, stepchild, legally adopted child, or a child raised in the home and claimed as a dependent before age 18. The bill takes effect October 1, 2025.
Impact
The bill amends Florida’s specialty license plate statutes to add a new authorized plate and to exempt that plate from two existing specialty plate restrictions: the presale voucher minimum of 3,000 sales before manufacture and the requirement that plates maintain at least 3,000 valid registrations to avoid discontinuation. As a result, the Supporting FHP Troopers plate would be treated differently from most other specialty plates under ss. 320.08053 and 320.08056, F.S. The measure also directs a dedicated revenue stream to a nonprofit organization for scholarship purposes, affecting how specialty plate fees are distributed and used.
Sentiment
The bill appears generally supportive and noncontroversial in concept, as it is framed as a tribute and benefit measure for Florida Highway Patrol troopers and their families. No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented debate to indicate opposition or support beyond the bill’s text. The structure of the bill suggests an intent to facilitate the plate’s launch by removing standard sales thresholds that could otherwise block it.
Contention
The main policy issue is the bill’s exemption of the Supporting FHP Troopers plate from the usual specialty plate presale and minimum-registration requirements. That could be seen as a departure from the state’s standard screening rules for specialty plates, which are designed to ensure sufficient public demand before a plate is produced or kept in circulation. Another possible point of interest is the use of public-facing specialty plate revenue for scholarships administered by a private nonprofit, though the bill limits administrative spending to 10 percent and directs the rest to educational assistance for troopers and their families.