No. SB 1378
Filed under Transportation.
Traffic Enforcement; Defining the term “abandoned vehicle”; revising the circumstances under which law enforcement officers and traffic accident investigation officers may provide for the removal of an abandoned vehicle to the nearest garage or place of safety; prohibiting a person from operating a motor vehicle that the person knows bears a registration license plate or validation sticker that was not issued and assigned or lawfully transferred to the motor vehicle; specifying that using a motor vehicle to flee or attempt to elude a law enforcement officer is a circumstance under which a seizure of the motor vehicle may occur under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThis bill defines abandoned vehicle in the roadside-stopping law for the first time. The definition sweeps in any car without a plate, with a mismatched plate, without a registration sticker, or with a sticker expired 90 or more days, regardless of the vehicle's actual physical condition.
Officers may already tow abandoned vehicles from public roads. This bill drops the exemption for cars in designated parking areas and the 30-foot distance rule, widening removal, but now requires a notice to be attached to the car first.
Separately, driving a car you know carries a plate or sticker that was never lawfully assigned to it becomes its own crime, a more serious one than just attaching the plate, and driving your own registered vehicle creates a presumption you knew.
A motor vehicle used to flee or elude a law enforcement officer becomes property the state may seize under Florida's Contraband Forfeiture Act, a new basis added to the list of circumstances that already trigger forfeiture.
AIThis adds a definition of abandoned vehicle to the roadside-stopping law for the first time. It automatically includes any vehicle without a plate, with a mismatched plate, without a registration sticker, or with a sticker expired 90 or more days, regardless of the vehicle's physical condition.
AIThe old law only allowed removal of abandoned vehicles outside designated parking areas, splitting the 48-hour and 10-day clocks by distance from the pavement edge. Both limits are deleted, so a vehicle in a legal parking spot can now qualify too, sorted only by whether it is operative.
AICurrently only attaching an unlawfully transferred plate or sticker is a crime, a misdemeanor of the second degree. This bill separately criminalizes operating a vehicle you know bears one, as a more serious first-degree misdemeanor.
AIA motor vehicle used to flee or attempt to elude a law enforcement officer becomes a new, standalone basis for seizure under the state's Contraband Forfeiture Act, added to the list of circumstances that already qualify property for forfeiture.
AIBefore towing a vehicle under the 48-hour or 10-day rules, officers must now post a notice on it describing the violation and the removal deadline. This new requirement does not apply to removal for obstructing traffic or blocking visibility.
AIFor the new operating crime, the law creates a rebuttable presumption that the driver knew the plate or sticker was unlawful whenever that driver is the vehicle's registered owner, shifting the burden to the owner to prove otherwise.