Florida - Tuesday July 2, 2024: Governor DeSantis has signed the following four bills into law:
1. HB 91 – Transportation Facility Designations: The bill designates the entire length S.R. A1A, from the Georgia state line to Key West, as the “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.” The bill also directs the Florida Department of Transportation to erect suitable markers for the designation by August 30, 2024.
These provisions take effect upon becoming a law.
Vote: Senate 40-0; House 119-0
2. CS/CS/HB 389 – Transportation Facility Designations: The bill creates a number of honorary designations of transportation facilities around the state and directs the Florida Department of Transportation to erect suitable markers for each of the following designations:
- Deputy Sheriff Christopher Taylor Memorial Highway in Charlotte County.
- Army Specialist Nicholas Panipinto Memorial Highway in Manatee County.
- Dylan Roberts Memorial Crosswalk in Alachua County.
- AWF3 Mohammed “Mo” Haitham Memorial Way in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
- Deputy Sheriff George Pfeil Memorial Highway in Seminole County.
- Deputy Sheriff Robert Moore Memorial Highway in Seminole County.
- Deputy Sheriff James Cleveland Jacobs Memorial Highway in Seminole County.
- Abe Resnick Drive in Miami-Dade County.
- Pastor Rick Blackwood Street in Miami-Dade County.
- Gus Kopelousos Memorial Highway in Clay County.
- MICCO WAY in Miami-Dade County.
- Major John Leroy Haynes Memorial Highway in Leon and Jefferson Counties.
- Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway in 14 North Florida counties.
- Randy Roberts Memorial Highway in Polk County.
- Carol Jenkins Barnett Memorial Highway in Polk County.
- Trooper Zachary Fink Memorial Highway in St. Lucie County.
The bill also redesignates a bridge in St. Lucie County as the E.C. Summerlin Family Bridge.
These provisions take effect July 1, 2024.
Vote: Senate 34-0; House 115-0
3. CS/CS/HB 403 – Specialty License Plates: The bill authorizes the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) to create the following new specialty license plates:
- Margaritaville;
- General Aviation;
- Clearwater Marine Aquarium;
- United Service Organizations (USO);
- Recycle Florida;
- Boating Capital of the World;
- Cure Diabetes;
- Project Addiction: Reversing the Stigma;
- The Villages: May All Your Dreams Come True
The bill exempts a collegiate license plate from being discontinued based on having the fewest number of plates in circulation and to exempt such plates from pre-sale voucher requirements. The bill also allows a previously discontinued collegiate plate to be reauthorized by DHSMV if the university resubmits the collegiate license plate for authorization.
The bill revises the distribution of proceeds for the Live The Dream specialty license plate from the inactive Live the Dream Foundation, Inc., to the Operating Trust Fund within the Department of State and stipulates these funds must be used to support the Historic Cemeteries Program. Specifically, the funds must be used to research, identify, and record abandoned African-American cemeteries and provide grants to eligible entities.
The bill expands eligibility for issuance of the Divine Nine specialty license plates. The bill extends eligibility for such plates to an organization member’s immediate relative and to motor vehicle lessees (currently limited to vehicle owners).
The bill renames the existing “Give Kids The World” specialty license plate as the “Universal Orlando Resort” specialty license plate.
The bill also replaces “In God We Trust” on the bottom of the existing American Eagle specialty license plate with “Protect the Eagle.”
These provisions take effect October 1, 2024.
Vote: Senate 40-0; House 108-6
4. CS/CS/HB 619 – Sovereign Immunity for Professional Firms: The bill revises a statute that treats contractors providing monitoring and inspection services for state road and related infrastructure projects as agents of the state for purposes of sovereign immunity protections. As revised, the liability protections are expressly extended to consultants to a contractor performing monitoring and inspection services for the Florida Department of Transportation which are required for a state road or related infrastructure project.
These provisions take effect July 1, 2024.
Vote: Senate 38-1; House 113-1
To view the transmittal letter, click here.