CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.Senate Bill 0172
Florida Senate - 1998 SB 172
By Senator Horne
6-116A-98
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Department of Highway
3 Safety and Motor Vehicles; repealing s.
4 324.201(5), F.S., which requires recovery
5 agents to notify law enforcement of the tag
6 seizure; amending s. 324.202, F.S.; expanding a
7 pilot project that authorizes a recovery agent
8 or recovery agency to seize the license plate
9 of a motor vehicle following suspension of the
10 vehicle's registration or suspension of the
11 driver's license of the owner or operator of
12 the vehicle for failing to maintain personal
13 injury protection; requiring that the
14 department provide procedures for paying fees
15 and transmitting a seized license plate to the
16 local law enforcement agency; requiring the
17 department to report to the Legislature on the
18 results of the pilot project; providing an
19 effective date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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23 Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 324.201, Florida
24 Statutes, is repealed.
25 Section 2. Section 324.202, Florida Statutes, is
26 amended to read:
27 324.202 Seizure of motor vehicle license plates by
28 recovery agents.--
29 (1) The Department of Highway Safety and Motor
30 Vehicles shall implement a statewide pilot project in Broward
31 County, Dade County, and Hillsborough County to determine the
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Florida Senate - 1998 SB 172
6-116A-98
1 effectiveness of using recovery agents for the seizure of
2 license plates. On January 1, 2000, October 1, 1996, the
3 department shall provide a report to the President of the
4 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the chair
5 of the Senate Commerce Committee, the chair of the House
6 Insurance Committee, and the Majority and Minority Leaders of
7 the Senate and the House of Representatives, on the results of
8 the pilot project. A licensed recovery agent or agents and
9 recovery agency, agencies as described in s. 493.6101(20) and
10 (21), may seize the license plate plates of a motor vehicle if
11 the vehicle's registration or the driver's license of the
12 owner or operator of the vehicle has vehicles whose
13 registrations have been suspended pursuant to s. 316.646 or s.
14 627.733, in such counties upon compliance with this section
15 and rules of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor
16 Vehicles.
17 (2) The Department of Highway Safety and Motor
18 Vehicles shall:
19 (a) Provide a procedure for the payment of fees to
20 recovery agents or recovery agencies who seize license plates
21 pursuant to this section. This procedure shall include the
22 development and distribution of forms and monthly renewal
23 notices, including the name and most current address available
24 to the department of persons not in compliance with s. 316.646
25 or s. 627.733, which shall be used by the seizing recovery
26 agent or recovery agency to transmit the seized license plate
27 to the local law enforcement agency pursuant to s. 324.201.
28 (b) Provide a method for the payment of the fee in s.
29 627.733(7) to the recovery agent or recovery agency seizing
30 the license plate pursuant to this section. The requirements
31 with respect to payment must provide that when the owner or
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Florida Senate - 1998 SB 172
6-116A-98
1 operator whose driver's license has been suspended under s.
2 316.646 or s. 627.733 pays the reinstatement fee to the
3 Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the
4 department shall pay the recovery agent.
5 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
6 law.
7
8 *****************************************
9 SENATE SUMMARY
10 Deletes the requirement that a recovery agent notify law
enforcement agencies of the seizure of a license plate.
11 Requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor
Vehicles to expand statewide a pilot project under which
12 a licensed recovery agent may seize the license plate of
a motor vehicle if the vehicle's registration or the
13 driver's license of its owner or operator has been
suspended for failure to provide personal injury
14 protection.
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