​Representative Tommy Gregory, (R-Sarasota), an attorney and entrepreneur, educated at University of Texas School of Law, who was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2018, has filed a bill seeking to create the "Stop Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Act" which, if enacted, will prohibit local governments and Specialty License Plate Organizations from lobbying the Florida State Legislature. In the last legislative session, Rep Gregory spoke to the assembled House of Representatives and told them he fully intended to end the specialty license plate program. His first step is to completely ban any not-for-profit organization that receives any funds from the SLP program to be able to voice any opposition to his proposals in the following legislative session, where he will probably then take his second step that he has publicly announced.
HB 501 is the second of 18 bills filed by Rep Gregory, the first was HB 499 (companion to SB 1298 by Senator Joe Gruters), which seeks to prohibit any governmental entity from entering into agreements with professional sports team unless the agreement includes a written verification that the professional sports team will play the United States national anthem at the beginning of each team sporting event held at the team's home venue or other facility controlled by the team for the event. Failure to do so would result in a breach of agreement and immediately subject the team to any penalty the agreement authorizes for default, which may include requiring the team to repay any money paid to the team by the state or any governmental entity or classifying the team as ineligible to receive further money under the agreement and may subject the team to a prohibition on contracting with the state. The bill further states that if a governmental entity fails to timely enforce the provision, the attorney general may intervene to enforce the provision.

​Rep Gregory’s current Committee assignments are Judiciary Committee (Republican Committee Whip), Civil Justice & Property Rights Subcommittee, Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee, Justice Appropriations Subcommittee and the Regulatory Reform Subcommittee.
Another bill he has filed (HB 6091) seeks to remove language that requires that an agency, when determining whether a firm is qualified to perform certain services, operate with the object of effecting an equitable distribution of contracts among qualified firms.
HB 501 prohibits local governments and not-for-profit organizations from using public funds to retain lobbyists; provides exceptions for local government full-time employees; provides sanctions for violations; authorizes people to file complaints with the Commission on Ethics; requires commission to provide a report to specified entities; and specifies procedures for disciplining violators. The bill has been referred to Public Integrity & Elections Committee, Local Administration & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee and the State Affairs Committee.
The bill seeks to create a new statute, Section 11.063, Florida Statutes – the "Stop Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Act." The first section relates to local government and states that any county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of the state and any department, agency, board, bureau, district, commission, authority, or similar body of a county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of the state, may not use public funds to retain a lobbyist to represent them before the legislative or executive branch. 

​However, the bill provides that they are allowed to use a full-time employee who may register as a lobbyist and represent them before the legislative or executive branch. Except as a full-time employee, a person may not accept public funds from a local government for lobbying. 
A local government that violates this subsection may be prohibited from lobbying the legislative or executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years and a person who accepts public funds as compensation for lobbying in violation of this subsection may be prohibited from registering to lobby before the legislative or executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years. 
In addition to those sanctions that may be levied against a local government or person for engaging in lobbying activities, a taxpayer or resident of the local government may file a civil action for injunctive relief to prevent the activity or to prohibit payments of public funds for that activity and a taxpayer or resident who prevails in an action may recover his or her reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in bringing the action.
The second part of the bill pertains to any not-for-profit organization that receives public funds under the specialty license plate program. Representative Gregory might not be aware that the funds that the organizations receive from the SLP program are not ‘taxpayer funds’, rather voluntary contributions by Florda vehicle owners that are collected from the annual ‘user fee’ and, even according to the FLHSMV, are mostly tax-deductible. He is also probably not aware that FLHSMV deducts all the costs of administering the SLP program, over $750,000.00 annually, from those voluntary charitable contributions and that there is already a provision that precludes them from utilizing those funds for lobbying in another statute. 
However, his bill provides that such organizations may not retain a lobbyist, whether for compensation or otherwise, to represent the organization before the legislative or executive branch. There is no similar allowance for a nonprofit to use a full-time employee who may register as a lobbyist and represent them before the legislative or executive branch, as is provided for local governments in the first section of the bill.
A lobbyist may not represent a not-for-profit organization that receives public funds under the specialty license plate program before the legislative or executive branch. A lobbyist who violates this paragraph may be prohibited from registering to lobby before the legislative or executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years. 

​This probably means that organizations that receive any SLP funds, cannot retain lobbyists at all, regardless of whether they are hired and paid through other sources. This would probably include Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, who routinely hire lobbyists every session, and Mote Marine. It does not seem to seek to prohibit FSU, UF and other colleges, sports teams or entities that hire many lobbyists every year and receive massive funding from the specialty license plate program.
In addition to the sanctions that may be levied against a lobbyist for representing the SLP nonprofit, a resident who prevails in an action may recover his or her reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in bringing the action. 
Also, a resident of the state may file a written complaint with the Commission on Ethics alleging a violation of this section. The commission shall investigate and report its finding to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor and Cabinet and based upon the report of the Commission on Ethics or upon its own finding that a violation of this subsection has occurred, a house of the Legislature may discipline the violator according to its rules, and the Governor or the Governor and Cabinet, as applicable, may prohibit the violator from lobbying before the executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years after the date of the formal determination of a violation. The Commission on Ethics shall adopt rules necessary to conduct investigations under this subsection. 
This new act, if approved shall take effect July 1, 2022. In an election year, it might be quite difficult to get other members to support this, given campaign contributions will be in full force after the early session is concluded and many of those lobbyists who are involved with some of the targeted organizations have quite powerful check books.

​Rep Gregory has also filed bills for an appropriation of $350,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to fund the Mote Marine Aquaculture Technology Transfer and $5,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Education to fund the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

​HB 555, filed by Rep Cord Byrd (R-Neptune Beach), an attorney, the 2nd of 41 bills he has filed, and SB 824 filed by Senator Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), a CPA, the 13th of 41 bills he has filed, have also been filed which will require DHSMV to contract with a private vendor for the marketing and sale of certain license plates; provides contract requirements; authorizes DHSMV & LBC to jointly develop review process and approve certain new specialty license plates; authorizes private vendor to conduct presales; specifies minimum presale voucher requirement; authorizes DHSMV to approve new designs and color combinations; authorizes certain specialty license plate organizations to have plates marketed and sold by private vendor; requires that certain paid deposits and fees be credited to the private vendor; authorizes certain dealer and fleet specialty license plates to be ordered directly from the private vendor; requires vendor processing fee for certain requests; specifies minimum specialty plate registrations.
A similar bill was filed last session and it failed to get a single committee hearing.

The WOMEN’S BREAST & HEART INITIATIVE has revealed their design for their proposed new specialty license plate that is currently in the presale stage. 3,000 have to be sold prior to October 1, 2023 to make it a reality.
"The beautiful hues of teal and orange and the silhouettes represent the vibrancy of Florida –all of us moving together towards disease prevention & early detection."
Every voucher purchased will support their mission, to transform and save lives while providing the resources necessary to beat the odds of breast cancer and heart disease.
Vouchers may be purchased online here - or at your local Tax Collector's Office.

For more information on the Women's Breast & Heart Initiative, click here.
​

Other than 'Explore our State Parks,' 30A.com/Scenic Walton tops the list of voucher sales for the new batch.

The new Miami Heat specialty license plate design is available for purchase from December 6, 2021. It can be purchased online here.
​The new design replaces the slogan 'American Airlines Arena' with 'FTX Arena.'

According to the FLHSMV, as of November 1, 2021, the Heat specialty license plate has the fifth highest number of plates on Florida roads: 60,706. In 2020, the Miami Heat specialty license plate collected $1,244,675,00, up from $1,144,300.00 in 2019.

AmericanAirlines Arena officially became FTX Arena in June, 2021, with the home of the Miami Heat now named for the cryptocurrency exchange.
The renaming was made at a “Trading Day” event at the arena, with Heat President Eric Woolworth, FTX Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried and Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava among those in attendance, as well as Heat players Bam Adebayo and Udonis Haslem. The Heat’s three NBA championship trophies were featured prominently on stage for the event.
American Airlines signage at the arena was removed shortly after the Heat’s first-round elimination from the NBA playoffs.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The name change is part of a 19-year, $135 million rights agreement with FTX, which also has established a partnership with the Heat. The 19-year term coincides with the remaining term of Heat’s lease at the facility.
Under the arena’s operating agreement, naming rights for the facility that hosts the three-time NBA champion are negotiated by the Miami-Dade County in coordination with the Heat.
The county’s agreement calls for an annual payment of $2 million per year from the naming rights to the Heat.

​Since 1996 the HEAT and the Florida Sports Foundation have been partnered in support of Florida’s youth and sports. The proceeds from the annual sale and renewal of the Miami HEAT license plate benefit The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund and the Florida Sports Foundation Major & Regional Grant Program.
The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund supports programs for the betterment of at-risk families in South Florida. Beneficiaries include SafeSpace, a domestic violence shelter for women and children, the Jackson Memorial Foundation’s Guardian Angels and Holtz Children’s Hospital, and the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Community. The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund also provides educational scholarships for high school seniors and partners with inner-city elementary schools to fund the HEAT Academy, which provides after-school tutoring and mentoring programs. Through these initiatives, the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund continues to inspire the youth of South Florida to envision their dreams and achieve their goals. 

The all new Walt Disney World specialty license plate saw sales of $436,050.00 just in the month of September, and another $222,225.00 in October, bringing the total sales to a whopping $772,650.00 since the release of the plate in late August. Endless Summer, the top selling plate in Florida, saw total sales of $215,425.00 in the month of September and $214,575.00 in October, bringing their total year to date to $2,133.900.00, for the 10 months of 2021. The total in the twelve months of 2020 for Endless Summer was $2,160,575.00, up $390,000.00 from 2019.
The demand for the new Disney plate has been unprecedented and many Tax Collectors do not have any inventory to meet demand - including MyFloridaSpecialtyPlate. 
According to FLHSMV, as of December 1, 2021, there are now 13,369 Walt Disney world specialty license plates on Florida roads, making it the 44th most popular specialty license plate already, surpassing Indian River Lagoon (13.091) and United We Stand (12,910).
The great news is that most of those funds, from the $25.00 user fee, will ultimately go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Northern Florida, Inc. for activities and programs for critically ill children, once the FLHSMV have deducted their operational and start up cost, which is unknown at this time. FLHSMV also deducts its annual SLP program operating and management fees from the user fee biennial payments and also receives a $28 'metal plate replacement fee' and an ongoing $2.80 'advance metal plate replacement fee' with each order, in addition to the $5.00 'specialty license plate processing fee', generating over  $1,000,000.00 so far to the state coffers from the Disney plate alone.
The Disney plate also collected over 11,000 presale vouchers and the state charged a $3.00 processing fee for those presale vouchers as well.

The Florida Highwaymen will host an event Thursday night, December 2nd, to encourage people to purchase its specialty license plate, which needs 3,000 pre-sale vouchers before October before production can begin.
Vouchers can be purchased for $39.95, and representatives from the St. Lucie tax collector's office will be on-site to assist. The event will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Treasure Coast Lexus dealership, 5121 U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce.

Purchasers will be entered into a drawing to win a Highwaymen painting. The first 25 attendees over the age of 70 will be given a free, pre-paid voucher for a license plate.

"If you're not able to afford the Highwaymen painting, you can definitely have one on your car," said Doretha Hair Truesdell, widow of the original and founding Highwayman Alfred Hair.

Who were The Highwaymen?
The Highwaymen were a group of Black artists that originated in Fort Pierce, known for painting Florida landscapes under the tutelage of A.E. "Bean" Backus. Kept out of white-owned galleries, they sold their artwork along roadsides in the 1960s and ’70s.

Honoring the group's work through a specialty license plate has been an uphill battle in the state Legislature.

Former Rep. Larry Lee Jr., D-Port St. Lucie, filed a bill to create the license plate, but it did not pass the 2018 legislative session. Former Rep. Delores Hogan Johnson, D-Fort Pierce, reintroduced the bill in 2019 after Lee retired, but it died in committee.

​Fees collected through the specialty license plate will go toward the construction and operation of a Highwaymen museum in Fort Pierce's Lincoln Park neighborhood, Truesdell said. Funds also will help the St. Lucie Education Foundation pay for art education and other art projects in local public schools.

"It's our heart's desire, after all these years, to have our own museum," Truesdell said. "It would come full circle."

​For years, Biscayne Bay has experienced fish kills, seagrass die-offs, and run-off pollution from fertilizers and construction of towering beachside condos. In June, an evaluation by Miami-Dade County rated a significant portion of its bayside waters — home to manatees, dolphins, and other marine life —as "poor" or "fair."

It was considered a win for Miami-Dade environmentalists when bipartisan legislation for a specialty license plate to benefit Biscayne Bay drafted by Sen. Ileana Garcia (R-Miami) and Rep. Nicholas Duran (D-Miami) was signed into law this summer. Funds from the Protect Biscayne Bay tag will benefit the Miami Foundation to support habitat restoration, pollution prevention, and environmental education and awareness.

On November 6, community members and local officials, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, huddled around a blue Toyota Prius on the north end of the 444-acre Deering Estate on Miami's Cutler Bay, where a crowd of reporters and residents awaited the unveiling of the winning design for the Protect Biscayne Bay plate.

The brown paper that shrouded the car's trunk was ripped away to showcase the silhouette of a Stiltsville house and mangrove against a glowing orange sunset.

A new law came into effect on October 1, 2020 which stated that FLHSMV, in cooperation with the ndependent colleges and universities, create a standard template specialty license plate with a unique logo or graphic identifying each independent college or university.
Each independent college or university had to elect to use this standard template specialty license plate in lieu of its own specialty license plate.
​On November 2, 2021, FLHSMV announced that PRIDE will begin shipping the new ICUF specialty license plates from November 1, 2021. All license plates will be delivered by November 10, 2021 to the 67 county Tax Collectors. Please remove the old designs from your inventory and begin issuing the new plates when you receive them.
Anyone that has the old license plate will be able to keep that license plate until the end of the 10-year plate. No originals, replacements, and personalized license plate reservations transactions will be allowed.
​There are 25 ICUF specialty license plates - click here for the gallery.

​Annual use fees from the sale of these license plates are distributed to the independent college or university for which the logo or graphic is displayed and must be used as provided in s. 320.08058(3), F.S. Independent colleges and universities opting to use the standard template specialty license plate will have their plate sales combined for purposes of meeting the 3,000 plate minimum sales threshold and determining the 150 plate limit.

​Below is the list that have joined the new ICUF plate:  
AdventHealth University
Ave Maria University
Barry University
Beacon College
Eckerd College
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Everglades University
Florida College
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Southern College
Hodges University
Jacksonville University
Keiser University
Lynn University
Nova Southeastern University
Palm Beach Atlantic University
Ringling College of Art and Design,
Rollins College
Saint Leo University.
Saint Thomas University,
Southeastern University,
Stetson University
The University of Tampa
Warner University
Webber International University

The following ICUF members have elected not to join the standard template list:
Bethune Cookman
Flagler College
Florida Memorial University
University of Miami​

​House Bill 355, was filed on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, by Representative Dr. James Bush III, (D-Miami Dade), a retired teacher who was a state representative from 1992-2000, 2008 and more recently 2018 to the present. This is the only bill he has filed so far.
The bill seeks to revise the distribution of annual use fees from the sale of ‘Live the Dream’ license plates and reduces distribution to Sickle Cell organizations from 60% to 40%, and provides for the distribution of 35% to The Dream Foundation, based in Tallahassee, Florida and led by Michael Dobson, a former lobbyist, for "programs and services relating to the ‘Dream Reentering Citizens Fund’, as follows: 
10% shall be used for administrative costs associated with the operation of the Dream Foundation, Inc., and for marketing and promoting the license plate. 
10% shall be used for programs and services provided directly by the Dream Foundation, Inc., which assist inmates released from the Department of Corrections in successfully reentering the community.
15% shall be distributed as grants to administer and market programs and services throughout this state which assist inmates released from the Department of Corrections in successfully reentering the community."
The existing statutory language that was changed in 2020 providing for distribution to the Miami-based Chapman Partnership, Inc for programs for relief of poverty, hunger and homelessness is replaced with proposed language that states that at least 20% shall be distributed as scholarships to high school seniors in this state, at least one of whose parents or legal guardians is incarcerated, for the purpose of attending a state university, a Florida College System institution, a career center operated by a school district under s. 1001.44, or a charter technical career. Scholarships shall be awarded through a competitive application process overseen by a scholarship program committee composed of one representative from a PACE Center for Girls, one representative from Children of Inmates, Inc., one representative from Living Stones International, Inc., and one representative from the executive team or board of the Dream Foundation, Inc. Fiscal oversight of the scholarship program shall be performed by a certified public accounting firm. 
The existing provision of “up to 5% may be distributed by the department on behalf of the Dream Foundation, Inc., to The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., as a royalty for the use of the image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the license plate," remains intact.

The bill that created the America the Beautiful license plate, provides that the annual use fees will be distributed to the America the Beautiful Fund to be used as follows: 
• 10% to offset administrative, marketing, and promotion costs. 
• 90% for projects and programs teaching character, leadership, and service to Florida youth; the provision of support services and assistance to the military community; outdoor education advancing self-sufficiency; wildlife conservation; the maintenance of historic or culturally important sites, buildings, structures, or objects; and the development and modification of playgrounds, recreational areas, or other outdoor amenities, including disability access. 

The America the Beautiful Fund is the fictitious name of Live Laugh Love Give, Inc. Based in Tampa, headed by Janet, Christopher, Michael and Spenser Boire, all located at 13791 N.Nebraska Avenue, Tampa, FL 33613, which is also the hme of the Support our Troops and In God We Trust plates headed by Martin Boire.

Florida Family Policy council are promoting the giveaway of the 3,000 presale vouchers because it "funds groups friendly to us that support youth leadership, character-building, etc."
Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC) is one of 38 state-based policy councils around the country associated with Focus on the Family, Alliance Defending Freedom and Family Research Council. Many of these councils are the leading pro-life, pro-family organizations in their respective states. Their president and general counsel is John Stemberger.