​“I appreciate the members of the Florida Highway Patrol who have volunteered to represent the state of Florida and answer the call to assist fellow law enforcement agencies along the southern border,” said Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Terry L. Rhodes. “I thank Governor DeSantis for his leadership on this issue and his continued support of law enforcement.”
Governor Ron DeSantis announced that state law enforcement officers have deployed to Texas to provide additional support in response to the security crisis at the southern border.
“When the Governors of Texas and Arizona reached out for help, Florida answered the call,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We are witnessing a catastrophe at the southern border under the Biden Administration. In recent months, we have seen people from the terrorist watch list, known sex offenders and a flood of fentanyl cross over the border. This is a national security crisis, and we must get it under control.”
Resources from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are deploying, including more than 50 staff law enforcement members from FDLE, FHP, and FWC and mission critical equipment. It is anticipated that personnel will be deployed for 16-day shifts. Over 20 county sheriff departments have pledged support to provide staffing resources to cover duties typically filled by the deployed officers.

​President Joe Biden today approved an emergency declaration for the state of Florida, making federal aid available, including equipment and other resources and authorizing FEMA to coordinate disaster relief efforts.
Additionally, a team of engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is being sent to Surfside to determine whether a larger investigation that could impact building codes everywhere is needed.
The federal agency studies building structural failures and recommends changes to building codes, fire response and emergency communications, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Huergo.
The death toll from Thursday's partial collapse of a South Florida residential building has risen to four and the number of unaccounted increased by the dozens. Three bodies were found overnight from Thursday into Friday in the wreckage of Champlain Towers South, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said, adding to one found early Thursday.
The number of people unaccounted for is now 159, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters, up from the figure of 99 that officials gave Thursday afternoon.

​HB 1267  Specialty License Plates Marketed and Sold by Private Vendors is sponsored by Rep John Snyder (R-Palm Beach) who lives in Stuart and is a Staffing and Payroll Services business owner. Rep Snyder (33) graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University, with a BS in Marketing. His father is William D. Snyder, who served in the Florida House of Representatives (2006-2012) and is now the Martin County Sheriff. Rep Snyder was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 2007-2012 and was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Rep Snyder beat out former Rep Carl Domino and lawyer Rick Kozell in a very expensive Republican primary and he replaced state Rep. MaryLynn Magar (R-Tequsta), who was term-limited. Rep Snyder raised and spent $209,344.00, according to campaign finance reports, and captured nearly 65% of the votes in a landslide victory over Democrat Elisa Ackerly (56) who garnered 35%. 
​HB 1269 Fees/Specialty License Plates Marketed and Sold by Private Vendors  is sponsored by Rep Adam Botana (R-Lee County), from Bonita Springs who was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020. Rep Botana works in the Carnival Industry, Food and Beverage and Marina Industry and has a GED.

The Senate companion bill to authorize the fees contained in HB 1269 is SB 1862 Fees/Specialty License Plates Marketed and Sold by Private Vendors sponsored by Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez (R-Miami Dade/Monroe), who has also filed SB 1930, the companion bill to HB 1267.
Senator Rodriguez served as a City of Doral Councilwoman (2010-2018) and Vice Mayor (2017-2018) She served in the House of Representatives (2018-2020) and was elected to the Senate in 2020. She is the Senior Vice President of Miami Realtors and received an M.S., Leadership, at Nova Southeastern University, H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business in 2009 and before that attended Florida International University, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, receiving a B.S., Communications in 1999.
Senator Rodriguez replaced term-limited Republican incumbent Anitere Flores and defeated her Democratic challenger Javier Fernandez. A child of Cuban immigrants, Senator Rodríguez has lived in South Florida all her life. Before she got her start in politics, she worked as a lobbyist for the Miami Association of Realtors and Baptist Health South Florida.

The proposed Specialty License Plates Marketed and Sold by Private Vendors bill will have an effective date of July 1, 2021. The bills provide for the following:
To create the new plates, the private vendor program will require the DHSMV to enter into a contract with an experienced private vendor whose proposal is most advantageous to the state, as determined from competitive sealed proposals that satisfy the requirements of this section, for the exclusive vendor rights to market and sell specialty license plates. 
The bills state that the department shall enter into a contract with an experienced private vendor based on the sealed competitive bid for an initial term of at least 5 years, renewable with the same private vendor for up to two successive terms of 5 years each, after which the contract must then be competitively bid. Competitive unsealed bids can then be submitted after 15 years.
DHSMV has to certify to the Chief Financial Officer an estimate, with a detailed explanation of the basis on which the estimate is calculated, of all reasonable costs to the department associated with the evaluation of competitive sealed proposals received by the department and with the implementation and enforcement of a contract entered into, including direct, indirect, and administrative costs for the issuance or renewal of private vendor specialty license plates 
The department may not unreasonably disapprove or limit any aspect of the private vendor's marketing and sales plan; unreasonably interfere with the selection, assignment, or management by the private vendor of the private vendor's employees, agents, or subcontractors; or require the private vendor to market and sell specialty license plates.
The private vendor may not market or sell specialty license plates that compete directly for sales with any other similar specialty license plate issued under this chapter without the approval of the department and the sponsoring organization of the other specialty license plate. The department may publish for public comment on its website for up to 10 days a proposed design or color combination for a specialty license plate marketed or sold by a private vendor. The department may not restrict the background color, color combinations, or color alphanumeric license plate numbers of such a specialty license plate, except as determined by the department as necessary for law enforcement purposes.
The department may approve new designs and color combinations for specialty license plates that are marketed and sold by a private vendor under a contract entered into with the private vendor. Each approved license plate design and color combination remains the property of the department. 
The department may approve new designs and color combinations for specialty license plates, including specialty license plates that may be personalized which are marketed and sold by the private vendor under a contract entered into with the private vendor. 
A specialty license plate marketed and sold by a private vendor must be approved by the department for issuance for a term of 1, 3, 5, or 10 years. Subject to the limitations provided in the bill, the department may cancel a specialty license plate or require the discontinuation of a specialty license plate design or color combination that is marketed and sold by the private vendor under contract at any time if the department determines that the cancellation or discontinuation is in the best interest of this state or the motoring public.
An organization to which specialty license plate annual use fees are distributed under s. 320.08058 on or before June 30, 2021, may elect to have its respective specialty license plate marketed and sold by a private vendor after July 1, 2021. Any previously paid deposit or fee shall be credited toward the private vendor for the term to which it applies.
The 150 maximum cap on the number of allowable SLP’s does not apply to specialty license plates marketed and sold by private vendors.
To create a private vendor specialty plate, 200 voucher sales have to be sold (not 3,000) including for out of state college plates (not 4,000) and they don’t have to comply with the requirement that the state in which the college or university is located has authorized license plates for colleges or universities located in Florida. 

License plates marketed and sold by private vendors are exempt from the requirement that fees and any interest earned from the fees may be expended only for use in Florida.
Dealer and fleet specialty license plates must be ordered directly from the department unless marketed and sold by a private vendor, in which case they may be ordered directly from the vendor.
The department must discontinue the issuance of an approved specialty license plate marketed and sold by a private vendor, if it falls below 200 plates, for at least 12 consecutive months (not 3,000.)
License plates marketed and sold by private vendors are exempt from the requirement that on January 1 of each year, the department shall discontinue the specialty license plate with the fewest number of plates in circulation, including license plates exempt from a statutory sales requirement. 
The annual use fee from the sale of specialty license plates, the interest earned from those fees, or any fees received by any entity as a result of the sale of specialty license plates may not be used for the purpose of marketing to, or lobbying, entertaining, or rewarding, an employee of a governmental agency that is responsible for the sale and distribution of specialty license plates, or an elected member or employee of the Legislature. This does not apply to specialty license plates marketed and sold by private vendors.
License plates marketed and sold by private vendors are also exempted from minimum sales requirements for the Independent college template and out of state college plates. ​

​In a search of the registered lobbyist database, Corcoran Partners have registered as lobbyists for License Plates of Texas, LLC, for HB 1269 / HB 1267: Robert M Blair, Jacqueline A Corcoran, (probably Jessie Corcoran, Michael’s wife) Eric Criss, Andrea Tovar and Michael C. Corcoran.
Ted Smith (Florida Automobile Dealers Association) is the only lobbyist that has filed a disclosure so far for the two Senate bills.
License Plates of Texas LLC operates myplates.com out of Austin, Texas and according to Dunn and Bradstreet, License Plates of Texas, LLC d/b/a My Plates has 15 total employees across all of its locations and generates $2.27 million in sales (USD).
According to press releases from My Plates, My Plates launched in November 2009 and has sold close to 500,000 specialty plates across the state, averaging about 42,000 a year, and raised over $100M for the General Revenue of Texas ($8.3 million a year). In addition to those revenues, they have also raised millions for various colleges, charities and scholarships. My Plates designs and markets new specialty license plates as the sole vendor for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV).
According to a press release in January, 2021, MyPlates now offers all of the 450 plates in Texas, including plates for Mighty Fine Burgers and Remax and their new web site launch achieved the TxDMV’s objective for the plate vendor to provide the public with the convenience of a one-stop-shop to acquire all specialty license plates, ending visits to multiple website stores.  

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas - It was supposed to be a quiet night for Jerome Karam, his wife Leslie and their son.
They had just finished dinner and were driving back to their Friendswood home when they noticed something odd in the rearview mirror. “We noticed that there were six police cars with the lights on,” said Jerome Karam.
In utter disbelief, Leslie Karam called 911, thinking the stop was a hoax.
Through an intercom, the Karams were ordered by officers to get out of the car as guns were pointed at them.
Friendswood Police Department officers then realized there was a license plate mix-up.
The SUV the Karams were driving is a 2018 white Cadillac with his specialty license plates, which previously were on his old black Cadillac that he traded in a while ago.
While Jerome Karam registered his plate to his new car, the plate still carried the old VIN number that belonged to the black Cadillac, which was stolen in Blue Mound.
Officers followed standard felony stop procedures, and Blue Mound police said the problem falls on the DMV.
Jerome Karam and his wife said the rattling traffic stop was their wake up call.
“Make sure if you sell your car that you double- and triple-check with your DMV,” said Leslie Karam.

​By Sally Mamdooh

​AUSTIN, Texas - To mark the 100th anniversary of the standardized Texas license plate design, implemented in 1917, the TxDMV introduced a special 100 year plate. 
Texans who want to show their state pride by displaying this plate on their vehicle must order before the end of August 2018. 
"The specialty license plate program allows drivers to give their plates a more personal touch. Plate enthusiasts, collectors, historians, and everyday Texans can commemorate this 100-year milestone by displaying a piece of plate history," said TxDMV executive Director Whitney Brewster. 
Texans who order this historic plate will pay $30 per year and be able to renew it annually. But no new orders will be accepted after Aug. 31, 2018.
To honor the 100-year milestone, the anniversary plate includes features from the past and present:

• The seal in the center of the plate is reminiscent of the 1917 radiator seal.
• The top corners of the plate include "19" and "17."
• the plate includes security threads and the words "TEXAS" on a white background just as it is on the current general-issue plate. 

The official vendor for specialty license plates in Texas, My Plates, is in the process of formally notifying over fifty organizations that their plate design does not meet the state's new minimum requirement of 200 plates actively in-use. 
This new requirement became effective December 1st, 2014 as part of the My Plates renewed contact with the state. This new requirement will not impact the state's vanity and military plates, which are not at risk of being removed.

Under the new threshold requirement, vendor plates that do not meet the minimum of 200 plates actively in-use over a given year are at risk of being permanently removed from the program. As of December 1, 2014, plates have up to a maximum of 365 days to meet the threshold. During this period, they must also meet the periodic milestones outlined below to ensure progress is being made towards the threshold.
Of the fifteen Texas high schools within the My Plates program, only one school, Carroll ISD has actually met the sales target. Four of the eight charity plate organizations within the program are at risk. The charities safe are the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Glory Gang Ministries, the Peace Officer's Memorial Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund. There are ten sports and outdoor plate designs that are below the threshold including recognized brands such as NASCAR (four plates), Texas Motor Speedway, Houston Rockets and Houston Dynamo.

Six of the seven plates within the Business plate category are at risk including, Dr. Pepper, Keller Williams and Ignite Energy. The only business plate safe is RE/MAX.
Sixteen College plates are at risk. Five of those are Texas colleges with the other eleven being from out of state.

Since November 2009, Texans have purchased more than 215,000 My Plates, putting more than $28M in the general revenue fund, which helps pay for services for all Texans.

he Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board approved a proposed reduction of Specialty License Plate prices offered through the official vendor MyPlates.com at their November meeting.
MyPlates.com recently proposed the reduction in pricing to further broaden the appeal of its specialty license plates in Texas and to make them more affordable for all Texans.
“Price is often cited as the number one reason why people have yet to purchase a My Plates plate” said Steve Farrar, President of MyPlates.com. “Now entering our second five-year contract, we have reduced the prices, allowing more Texans to enjoy customizing their vehicle by personalizing their license plate, and to have more fun with their plate choice” he said.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles has also approved the introduction of a new three-year term pricing option. “One of the most common lease terms for a vehicle is three years (36 months) and so we wanted to offer a plate term option that could match the same period,” commented Steve Farrar.
My Plates also offers Texans multi-year price discounts when purchasing for a longer term. Instead of taking up the one-year option and renewing it each year, you may decide to purchase the five-year option and receive the discount that works out to a saving of two years on a personalized plate.
The new prices are effective December 1, 2014.
Since November 2009, Texans have purchased more than 213,000 My Plates, putting more than $27M in the general revenue fund, which helps pay for services for all Texans.

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.

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.