According to the latest statistics released by FLHSMV, the proposed Explore Off Road Florida and Divine 9 Florida specialty license plates have completed the required 3,000 presale voucher sales, to make those plates a reality. The plates will now be manufactured and go on sale in the next few months.
The next in line are America the Beautiful, Ducks Unlimited and Thank a Lineman.
Auburn University has sold 1,937 and University of Alabama has sold 1,384, but the existing rules require out-of-state colleges to sell 4,000 presale vouchers. There have been bills filed by Senator Bean and Representative Yarborough (SB364/HB891) in the upcoming Florida Legislative session that is now underway, that seek to reduce the out-of-state college requirements 3,000 and extend their deadline for completion by a further 2 years.
There are a number of other new specialty plates being proposed in the 2022 session, including Inter Miami CF, Ethical Ecotourism, Safe Haven for Newborns, Down Syndrome Awareness, Pap Corps Champions, as well as a proposal to privatize the specialty license plate program and approve the use of digital license plates.

​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.