| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to specialty license plates; amending s. |
| 3 | 320.08056, F.S.; establishing annual use fees for the |
| 4 | Support Our Troops license plate and the Florida NASCAR |
| 5 | license plate; authorizing placement of a sponsoring |
| 6 | organization's Internet domain name on specialty license |
| 7 | plates; requiring the specialty license plate application |
| 8 | form to provide the applicant the option to instruct the |
| 9 | Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to provide |
| 10 | certain information to the sponsoring organization; |
| 11 | amending s. 320.08058, F.S.; creating the Support Our |
| 12 | Troops license plate; requiring the use of certain images |
| 13 | and marks of Support Our Troops, Inc.; providing that the |
| 14 | right to use a certain mark is reserved to that |
| 15 | corporation; authorizing that corporation to change the |
| 16 | design of the Support Our Troops license plate under |
| 17 | certain circumstances; providing that issuance of the |
| 18 | Support Our Troops license plate shall not be discontinued |
| 19 | if the number of registrations falls below a certain |
| 20 | number; providing for the distribution of use fees |
| 21 | received from the sale of such plates to Support Our |
| 22 | Troops, Inc.; creating the Florida NASCAR license plate; |
| 23 | providing for the distribution of use fees received from |
| 24 | the sale of such plates to the Florida Sports Foundation, |
| 25 | the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and |
| 26 | the NASCAR Foundation; requiring the Florida Sports |
| 27 | Association to provide for an annual audit to be submitted |
| 28 | to the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development |
| 29 | for certification to the Auditor General; providing an |
| 30 | effective date. |
| 31 |
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| 32 | WHEREAS, to create a concrete statement of thanks to our |
| 33 | troops for their service, civilians stepped forward and founded |
| 34 | Support Our Troops, Inc., a national nonprofit organization |
| 35 | based in Florida and dedicated to permanently assisting active |
| 36 | duty troops and their families, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, through a comprehensive program that enables |
| 38 | individuals to offer support through multiple charitable |
| 39 | methodologies, Support Our Troops, Inc., provides the means |
| 40 | through which individuals may take direct personal financial |
| 41 | responsibility for their troops and engage in direct financial |
| 42 | assistance for the troops and their families, and |
| 43 | WHEREAS, Support Our Troops, Inc., also provides the means |
| 44 | through which people may publicly display support for their |
| 45 | troops, and |
| 46 | WHEREAS, the Support Our Troops license plate will serve |
| 47 | these very important functions and will, by example, encourage |
| 48 | others to do the same, and |
| 49 | WHEREAS, the NASCAR Foundation is committed to helping |
| 50 | improve the lives of people, including those in need, and |
| 51 | WHEREAS, the NASCAR Foundation endeavors to create as many |
| 52 | avenues as possible through which people can enrich the lives |
| 53 | of children with chronic and medical conditions or serious |
| 54 | illnesses, assist children in need, educate and inspire, and |
| 55 | advance family values among youth, and |
| 56 | WHEREAS, the Florida NASCAR license plate will serve these |
| 57 | very important functions and will, by example, encourage others |
| 58 | to do the same, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 59 |
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| 60 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 61 |
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| 62 | Section 1. Subsection (6) of section 320.08056, Florida |
| 63 | Statutes, is amended, paragraphs (iii) and (jjj) are added to |
| 64 | subsection (4), and subsection (11) is added to that section, to |
| 65 | read: |
| 66 | 320.08056 Specialty license plates.-- |
| 67 | (4) The following license plate annual use fees shall be |
| 68 | collected for the appropriate specialty license plates: |
| 69 | (iii) Support Our Troops license plate, $25. |
| 70 | (jjj) Florida NASCAR license plate, $25. |
| 71 | (6) Specialty license plates must bear the design required |
| 72 | by law for the appropriate specialty license plate, and the |
| 73 | designs and colors must conform to the department's design |
| 74 | specifications. In addition to a design, the specialty license |
| 75 | plates may bear the imprint of numerals from 1 to 999, |
| 76 | inclusive, capital letters "A" through "Z," or a combination |
| 77 | thereof. The department shall determine the maximum number of |
| 78 | characters, including both numerals and letters. All specialty |
| 79 | license plates must be otherwise of the same material and size |
| 80 | as standard license plates issued for any registration period. A |
| 81 | specialty license plate may bear an appropriate slogan, emblem, |
| 82 | or logo in a size and placement that conforms to the |
| 83 | department's design specifications. The sponsoring |
| 84 | organization's Internet domain name may appear on the plate. |
| 85 | (11) The application form for a specialty license plate |
| 86 | shall provide the applicant the option to instruct the |
| 87 | department to provide his or her name, address, and renewal date |
| 88 | to the sponsoring organization. |
| 89 | Section 2. Subsections (61) and (62) are added to section |
| 90 | 320.08058, Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 91 | 320.08058 Specialty license plates.-- |
| 92 | (61) SUPPORT OUR TROOPS LICENSE PLATES.-- |
| 93 | (a) The department shall develop a Support Our Troops |
| 94 | license plate as provided in this section. Support Our Troops |
| 95 | license plates must bear the colors and design approved by the |
| 96 | department and must contain the soldier and child emblem and |
| 97 | "Support Our Troops" marks of Support Our Troops, Inc. The right |
| 98 | to use the mark of an eagle head upon a United States flag field |
| 99 | on a specialty license plate is reserved to Support Our Troops, |
| 100 | Inc., and such mark may be used alternatively. The word |
| 101 | "Florida" must appear on the plate and may be in approximately |
| 102 | 85-point Mistral font, and the words "Support Our Troops" must |
| 103 | appear on the plate and may be in approximately 60-point Vandijk |
| 104 | font. Upon compliance with s. 320.08056(9), Support Our Troops, |
| 105 | Inc., may alternate the phrase at the bottom of the plate to |
| 106 | "Support Our Heroes" or "Salute Our Heroes." The field of the |
| 107 | plate may be colored. |
| 108 | (b) The license plate annual use fees shall be distributed |
| 109 | to Support Our Troops, Inc., to be used for the benefit of |
| 110 | Florida troops and their families in accordance with its |
| 111 | articles of incorporation. Support Our Troops, Inc., may retain |
| 112 | all revenue from the annual use fees until all startup costs for |
| 113 | developing and establishing the plate have been recovered. |
| 114 | Thereafter, up to 25 percent of the annual use fee revenue may |
| 115 | be used for administrative costs and promotion and marketing of |
| 116 | the specialty license plate. |
| 117 | (c) Notwithstanding s. 320.08056, the department shall |
| 118 | begin production and distribution of the Support Our Troops |
| 119 | specialty license plate within 90 days after its approval by the |
| 120 | Legislature. Section 320.08056(8)(a) shall not apply to the |
| 121 | Support Our Troops license plate. The Support Our Troops license |
| 122 | plate shall also be issued in similar design in a size |
| 123 | appropriate for motorcycles. |
| 124 | (62) FLORIDA NASCAR LICENSE PLATES.-- |
| 125 | (a) The department shall develop a Florida NASCAR license |
| 126 | plate as provided in this section. Florida NASCAR license plates |
| 127 | must bear the colors and design approved by the department. The |
| 128 | word "Florida" must appear at the top of the plate, and the term |
| 129 | "NASCAR" must appear at the bottom of the plate. The National |
| 130 | Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, following consultation |
| 131 | with the Florida Sports Foundation, may submit a sample plate |
| 132 | for consideration by the department. |
| 133 | (b) The license plate annual use fees shall be distributed |
| 134 | to the Florida Sports Foundation, a direct-support organization |
| 135 | of the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development. The |
| 136 | license plate annual use fees are to be annually allocated as |
| 137 | follows: |
| 138 | 1. Up to 5 percent of the proceeds from the annual use |
| 139 | fees may be used by the Florida Sports Foundation for the |
| 140 | administration of the NASCAR license plate program. |
| 141 | 2. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing |
| 142 | shall receive up to $80,000 in proceeds from the annual use fees |
| 143 | to be used to pay startup costs, including costs incurred in |
| 144 | developing and issuing the plates. Thereafter, 10 percent of the |
| 145 | proceeds from the annual use fees shall be provided to the |
| 146 | association for the royalty rights for the use of their marks. |
| 147 | 3. The remaining proceeds from the annual use fees shall |
| 148 | be distributed to the Florida Sports Foundation. The Florida |
| 149 | Sports Foundation will retain 15 percent to support their |
| 150 | regional grant program, attracting sporting events to Florida; |
| 151 | 20 percent to support the marketing of motorsports-related |
| 152 | tourism in the state; and 50 percent to be paid to the NASCAR |
| 153 | Foundation, an s. 501(c)(3) charitable organization, to support |
| 154 | Florida-based charitable organizations. |
| 155 | (c) The Florida Sports Foundation shall provide an annual |
| 156 | financial audit in accordance with s. 215.981 of its financial |
| 157 | accounts and records by an independent certified public |
| 158 | accountant pursuant to the contract established by the Office of |
| 159 | Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development as specified in s. |
| 160 | 288.1229(5). The auditor shall submit the audit report to the |
| 161 | Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development for review |
| 162 | and approval. If the audit report is approved, the office shall |
| 163 | certify the audit report to the Auditor General for review. |
| 164 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |