Florida legislators push back on digital license plates favoring 130 year old technology - the metal license plate

Senator Gruters (right)

Under current law, PRIDE, Inc., manufactures all license plates and validation stickers for FLDHSMV and FLDHSMV is not required by statute to obtain competitive bids in order to contract only with PRIDE. 
The ‘Digital License Plate Pilot Program’ bill, CS/SB 862, sponsored by Senator Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), a CPA, was brought up before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development, chaired by Senator George B Gainer (R-Panama City) an automobile dealer, on 4/8/21 and the bill language was amended to conform to the current House version of the bill (CS/HB 695), however, it was met with a very hostile reception and the bill narrowly passed by a 7-4 vote, with some Senators stating that although they were supporting it in this Committee, they would need "substantial convincing to further support it" in the next and final Senate Committee stop: Appropriations.

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After SB 676, sponsored by Senator Dennis Baxley, (R-Lady Lake) creating a number of new specialty plates was passed quickly and unanimously (11-0), including an amendment to add two new specialty plates – ‘Florida Swims’ and ‘30A.com/Scenic Walton’ to the other 11 proposed new plates.
Following on from that well-received bill presentation, Senator Gruters provided a quick summary of the strike all amendment of CS/SB 695 and a brief description of the ‘pilot program’, stating that the Department "would try 5-10 digital plates on state owned vehicles for one year before the plates would be made available to Florida vehicle owners." He explained that the digital plates could only be purchased after a customer had purchased a regular metal plate from the DMV. Then came the onslaught of questions from the Senate Committee members.

Senator Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville), a paralegal and PR liaison in her twentieth year as a Florida legislator, was the first to question Gruters on the issue of whether the bill was limited to one vendor – namely Reviver, (or Reviver Auto or ReviverMX). Senator Gruters responded by stating that there were “multiple vendors out there” and when Senator Gibson asked him where Reviver was based out of, he responded “I’m not sure where that particular vendor is from,” which seems to contradict his recent statement in Reviver’s press release of February 9, 2021, wherein it states:
'"We look forward to working with Reviver and the ecosystem of vehicle compliance their platform and digital license plates will provide our DMV and our citizens. The expressive nature of their digital plates provides untapped opportunities for valuable communications." said Senator Joe Gruters, (R – Sarasota).'
The House bill sponsor, Representative Nick Duran (D–Miami) is also quoted in that same press release: "Bringing digital license plates to Florida helps to pave the way into a more connected future. Florida has always been on the cutting-edge of technology and allowing the use of this technology can bring large-scale efficiency and savings to the over 17 million registered vehicles in our state."