No. CS/SB 1274
Filed under Transportation.
Transportation; Requiring the Department of Transportation to increase the minimum perception-reaction time of certain steady yellow signals by a specified amount of time; requiring certain seaports to submit an annual report describing measures taken to support the commercial space launch industry to the chair of the Space Florida board of directors beginning on a specified date; authorizing a private entity to install an automated license plate recognition system for use on certain property for a specified purpose or in connection with controlling or enforcement of access to property; providing that the use of a license plate frame or decorative border device that does not obscure the visibility of certain features is not prohibited; requiring the department to implement a Next-generation Traffic Signal Modernization Grant Program, etc. APPROPRIATION: Indeterminate
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDEvery steady yellow light at an intersection with a red-light or speed camera gets 0.4 seconds longer to change, starting July 1, 2026, cutting the number of drivers caught by camera enforcement in that instant.
A private property owner may now install license-plate-reading cameras for public safety or access control, but cannot sell the images, and can only share fine revenue with the vendor who runs the system when it is used for access control.
Seaports that support spacecraft launch and recovery must now report annually to the Space Florida board, and can only convert cargo land to other uses with a two-thirds board vote and 30 days' public notice, whether or not they took state funding.
Counties and cities can now set residential speed limits below the old 20-or-25-mph floor, as long as a traffic study still backs up the lower number.
AIThe Department of Transportation must add 0.4 seconds to the minimum perception-reaction time built into every steady yellow light at an intersection equipped with a traffic infraction detector, lengthening the yellow phase at camera-enforced intersections statewide.
AIA private entity may install its own automated license-plate-recognition system on property it owns or controls for a public safety purpose or for controlling or enforcing access, subject to limits on accessing registration data, selling images, and paying vendors out of fine revenue.
AIThe requirement that a qualifying seaport get board approval before converting cargo-purpose land to another use used to apply only if the seaport had accepted a DOT grant or state funds. That funding link is removed, the board vote must now be two-thirds, and 30 days' public notice plus an impact report are required first.
AIInstead of being limited to setting a residential speed limit of 20 or 25 miles per hour, a county or municipality may now set any lower maximum speed limit on local streets once an investigation finds it reasonable.
AIThe department must stand up a grant program funding up to 80 percent of pilot-corridor costs and 50 percent of follow-on work to upgrade signalized intersections with AI- and machine-learning-based detection, funded by a $20 million annual appropriation starting in fiscal year 2026-2027.
AIBeginning February 1, 2027, a seaport in a spaceport-territory county that supports spacecraft launch and recovery operations must report annually to the Space Florida board chair on what it has done to support the commercial space launch industry, and post the report online.
AIA vehicle owner using a license plate frame or decorative border does not commit an offense as long as the frame does not cover the plate's letters and numbers or the registration decal.
AIThe department's authority to fund 100 percent of eligible project costs at rural public-use airports without scheduled service is no longer limited to runway/taxiway or economic-development projects, matching funds cannot be required in designated rural areas of opportunity, and the department's own funds may now serve as the match for federal or state grants.