HOW DO YOU CREATE A NEW FLORIDA SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE?

The only way to create a new Florida specialty license plate is to get a legislative bill sponsor and get a bill passed by the Florida Legislature and then signed by the Governor. Once passed, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Division of Motorist Services  (FLHSMV) will require the design to be to their specifications and a voucher pre-sale of 3,000 must be completed (4,000 for out-of-state colleges). 
The next legislative session will commence on Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Committee Meetings will commence on Monday, September 20, 2021.

​There are currently 109 specialty license plates, with Blue Angels and Walt Disney World to be added to that number in the next few months. The new law caps the potential number of specialty license plates at 150, and the new law revises the process to discontinue low sellers and restructure the independent college license plates. 12 Independent colleges have opted to participate in a new simple standard template enacted by the law specifically for independent colleges and universities. All of those schools’ registrations act in a combined manner when the state determines its rankings. This includes: Lynn University, Florida Hospital College, St. Thomas University, Southeastern University, Florida College, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Keiser University, Ringling College of Art and Design, Eckerd College, Florida Southern, St. Leo University and Warner Southern University.
American Red Cross, Clearwater Christian College, Donate Organs, Pass it On, Hispanic Achievers and St. John's River specialty license plates have been de-listed for lack of sales in 2015/2016. Support Soccer has been de-listed in 2018 due to the sponsoring charity dissolving. 
The new law requires the Department  to approve the new proposed designs within 60 days of October 1, 2020 and establish a method to issue the specialty plate vouchers within 120 days after the specialty license plate becomes law. The method has now been published. Each proposed specialty license plate has 24 months to complete the voucher pre-sale. The proposed specialty plates will be taken in the order they appear in the statute, provided they have met the pre-sale requirement.

It is expected that on October 1, 2021, when SB 676 becomes law, which is awaiting the Governor's signature (the bill was transmitted to the Governor on 6/28/21 and has 15 days to sign or veto it), 7 more new Florida specialty license plates will be added to the presale program, each having to complete the 3,000 presale requirement within 2 years from the date of commencement of their presale:
Protect Marine Wildlife
Florida State Parks
Honor Flight
Biscayne Bay
Disease Prevention & Early Detection
30A.Com/Scenic Walton
Support Health Care Heroes
FLHSMV already has the programming for the voucher program in place and should launch the presale for this batch by December 1, 2021. 
With 111 existing plates, of the allowable 150 maximum slots available for specialty plates, and the prospect of the Department delisting more plates under the new sales requirements, there should be more than enough room for popular license plates to be added to the list in the coming years.

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In 2008, a year when 4 more specialty plates were approved, (Play Tennis, Visit our Lights, In God We Trust and Horse Country) the Florida Legislature imposed a moratorium on the creation of new plates, which was extended during the 2014 Legislative Session to July 1, 2016. This bill also revised the requirements for requesting the approval of a specialty license by replacing the scientific sample survey of 30,000 Florida motor vehicle owners and an application fee of $60,000.00 with a pre-sale voucher, requiring the pre-sale of 1,000 vouchers at $30.00, after legislative approval.
During the moratorium, the Legislature proceeded to create 17 more specialty license plates, 15 of which were able to complete the pre-sell.
The last 4 plates to be created by the legislature under the previous 1,000 presale requirement effective 10/1/2014, were Fallen Law Enforcement Officers, Florida Sheriff's Association, Kaiser University and Moffitt Cancer Center. In 2019, a Blue Angels plate was approved, but the accompanying bill to authorize the fee did not. So, the bill was reintroduced in 2020 and passed and the Blue Angels plate has now completed its presale stage and is awaiting manufacturing.
Since 2015, more than 50 new plates, including a proposed plate for Auburn and Georgia Universities, have had bills filed each legislative session. All failed, until the 2020 legislative session wherein 33 new plates (42 including the Divine 9 black fraternity/sorority plates and the Blue Angels plate) were approved.