State memo clarifies new law on license plate frames
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a memo to all Florida law enforcement agencies on December 12, FLHSMV clarified that license plate frames are permissible as long as they don’t obscure the tag number or decal.
The memo from Dave Kerner, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), refers to a law that went into effect on October 1, 2025, prohibiting license plate frames that obscure the “primary features or details, including the license plate number or validation sticker, on the license plate.”
The intent of the law is to prohibit frames or obscuring devices that interfere with the ability to record the license plate number or validation sticker.
According to the memo, the law does not prohibit the use of a license plate frame, as long as the frame does not obscure visibility of the following:
- The alphanumeric plate identifier;
- The decal located in the top right hand corner of the license plate.
Kerner wrote that FLHSMV “does not consider the information on the bottom of the plate to be a primary feature of the plate. A plate frame that impinges on the information at the top of the plate is permissible, as long as law enforcement is able to identify the state that issued the plate.”
The memo includes a picture (shown below) of a typical license plate frame from a car dealer, with text at the top and the name of the dealer at the bottom, and states that this type of frame is permissible.
Just another reason for them to pull you over.
This whole law is due to AI licenses plate readers (Flock, Axon, etc). People quickly figured out that the automated cameras had issues with any anomaly near a plate. The letters on the frame would throw off the AI camera system. Certain lights (ie infrared) will ruin the surveillance image. Etc etc.
Apparently the government will track us like criminal slaves and there is nothing you can do about it.
👁️👁️👁️
Basically the same as it always was…. portions of the media and the public are blowing this stuff out of proportion again. FHP has already stated they are not aggressively enforcing this statute and as long as they can tell what state the plate originates from there will be no action.
This is not the same as it has always been. This is about automated tracking cameras, not about cops using their eyes. For instance, human eyes cannot see infrared light but when an IR light is near a plate it renders the surveillance photos worthless because the surveillance cameras use IR to record. This is about recording and surveillance, not human visibility!
Part d specifically references this:
d) Interfering with the ability to record the primary features or details, including the license plate number or validation sticker, on the license plate.
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0320/Sections/0320.262.html
I already removed mine. They say this now, but I don’t want there to be any room for “misinterpretation” of the law or to give someone who’s having a bad day another reason to pull me over. The $500 fine and having to fight it in court is just not worth it to me.
A memo from the FLHSMV doesn’t modify or repeal a statute passed by the state legislature and signed into law by the Governor. But it does highlight their incompetence at their core job (authoring legislation).