The Florida Legislature has appointed the Wildlife Foundation of Florida as administrator for the specialty automobile license plate commonly known as the “Deer Tag.” The Wildlife Foundation already handles two other specialty tags - Conserve Wildlife (“the Bear Tag”) and Protect Florida Springs — each of which is dedicated to the conservation of the state’s fish, wildlife and habitats.

The deer license plate, which features a whitetail buck standing among palmettos, was initiated in 2004 by the Florida Chapter of the Sportsmen’s National Land Trust as a way to help purchase land that would be managed forever to continue the state’s heritage of outdoor recreation.

With its recent appointment, the foundation will be responsible for developing and administering a grant program that uses the proceeds of the tag’s $25 annual fee to fund appropriate projects dedicated to preserving the state’s hunting heritage and outdoor recreation.

State statute specifically requires that 75 percent of the license tag funds from the “deer tag” be used to fund programs and projects within the state that “preserve open space and wildlife habitat, promote conservation, improve wildlife habitat, and establish open space for the perpetual use of the public. The remaining 25 percent may be used for promotion, marketing and administrative costs directly associated with operation of the trust.

Florida will redesign 11 military-related specialty license plates and add a new plate (the Combat Medical Badge plate) to the inventory as Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill (HB 559) into law intended to further honor veterans.
The law, which went into effect on July 1, also requires some editing of state laws, changing all references of the Korean Conflict to the Korean War and the Vietnam Era to the Vietnam War. The changes were requested by veterans.
The bill will add related campaign medals or badges to the following already-existing plates: Florida National Guard; United States Armed Forces Reserve; Ex-POW; Pearl Harbor survivor; Operation Desert Storm; Operation Desert Shield; Operation Iraqi Freedom; Operation Enduring Freedom; Combat Action Badge; Vietnam War Veteran; and the renamed Korean Conflict Veteran. Currently, only the Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge plates are stamped with the likenesses of the related campaign medals or badges.
The changes are expected to cost the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles $52,920 to do the redesigns.

Texas motorists with specialty license plates displaying the logos of Texas Tech, Lubbock Christian University or West Texas A&M University can count on keeping their tags for at least another five years.

But drivers with plates advertising other institutions, sports teams and organizations may not be as fortunate: Of the 366 types of specialty license plates the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles has issued since 2009, several dozen will soon be nixed.

The canceled plates did not generate enough interest from Texas motorists, meaning insufficient revenue for the state. To stay in the market, each type of plate had to have a minimum of 200 buyers a year, and the 87 tags to be nixed later this year didn’t meet that criteria.

Despite the cancellations of those specialty license plates, the DMV considers the contract it signed with My Plates, the company that issues those tags, a success.

“The specialty license plate program has been very successful in giving Texans the option to add a personal touch to their vehicles and support charities, schools, sports teams and other organizations,” DMV Executive Director Whitney Brewster said in a statement.

“The program has generated significant revenue for the state, and we expect that to increase under the new contract,” Brewster said. “The TxDMV looks forward to further enhancing the specialty license plate program over the next five years.”

The agency has agreed to another contract with My Plates, Brewster told the Texas Senate Transportation Committee last month.

“The contract with that vendor, My Plates, expires later this year,” she said. “However, we have successfully negotiated a renewal of the My Plates contract for a second five-year term, and the new contract will guarantee the state $15 million in revenue from the sales of new license plates only.

“The last contract allowed for renewals of specialty license plates as well as new license plates to go against that guarantee,” Brewster added. “We have modified it so that it is only new plate sales that hit that required guarantee, and this is to encourage new plate sales.”

Steve Farrar, president of MyPlates.com, said there is still hope for the targeted plates.

There are four more specialty license plates that could be on Florida's roads in the future, and two others might be driving off into the sunset. Subject to pre-selling 1,000, specialty plates for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers, Florida Sheriffs Association, Keiser University and Moffitt Cancer Center will be created.
Two plates currently with the less-than-required 1,000 sold plates have been put into a presale probationary period. Those two plates are the Hispanic Achievers and St. Johns River tags. The recent law change actually gave these two plates a lifeline beyond what current Florida law required. Any specialty tag that averages less than 1,000 sold plates in the previous 12 months is supposed to be removed from production. Both plates now get a lifeline in which current plates on the road can be renewed while each plate's sponsor organization will now attempt to drum up enough pre-order commitments to reach the 1,000-plate threshold.
That same threshold is required for the four new specialty tags before the state will produce any actual license plates for sale. There's a two-year limit from the point the plate's bill becomes law for each group to gather the requisite preorders. If any tag approved in this year's bill cannot generate enough preorders before June 30, 2016, then the plate won't be produced at all. The same demise is faced by the Hispanic Achievers and St. Johns River plates.
Seven specialty plates have been retired under this 1,000-plate threshold in the past including those for Arena Football League teams Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm as well as a plate that raised money for the Girl Scouts of America.
Of the four specialty tags approved in 2013, only two have made it into production after having satisfied the 1,000-tag commitment, Florida Masons and Lauren's Kids, while the others are still collecting pre-orders, American Legion and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

The Texas division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued members of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board in Austin three years ago after its application for a specialty license plate was deemed potentially offensive. 
A group made up of male descendants of Confederate veterans, the SCV describes its mission as honoring and keeping "alive the memory of the Confederacy and the principles for which Confederates fought, thus giving the world an understanding and appreciation of the Southern people and their brave history." 
The proposed license-plate design included the organization's name and its seal bearing the Confederate battle flag. SCV argued that nine other states, all of them Southern, issued similar license plates. 
Noting that the board had accepted a request for plates honoring the Buffalo Soldiers, even though they were "offensive to Native Americans because the all-black cavalry helped fight Native Americans in the Indian Wars from 1867-1888," SCV also argued that the rejection of its proposal amounted to viewpoint bias. 
A federal judge sided with the state, granting it summary judgment and ruling the board had made a reasonable, content-based regulation of private speech - as opposed to public speech by the government. 
In a 2-1 reversal Monday, the 5th Circuit deemed the rejection "impermissible viewpoint discrimination" that violated the group's free speech rights, in refusing to issue specialty license plates with the Confederate battle flag.