Confused about whether your license plate frame is legal in Broward? What to know

You may have heard about the new law with harsher penalties governing what you can and can’t put on top of your license plate in Florida.

The law went into effect Oct. 1 making it a second-degree misdemeanor — punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine — to alter or obscure your license plate, motor vehicle registration, mobile home stickers or validation stickers.

The ban itself isn’t new, but the penalty is. A Florida statute from 2012 prohibits the same alterations to plates and registrations, but instead carried a noncriminal traffic citation.

Now that the stakes have been raised, so too has the confusion, specifically surrounding popular license plate frames.

State agency clears the air

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has stepped in to clarify how the law regulates license plate frames. In a Dec. 12 memo that went out to all Florida law enforcement agencies, Executive Director Dave Kerner wrote:

“This act does not prohibit the use of a license plate frame as long as the frame does not obscure visibility of the following:

• The alpha numeric plate identifier
• The decal located in the top right hand corner of the license plate.”

“The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles does not consider the information on the bottom of the plate to be a primary feature of the plate,” according to the memo. “A plate 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 FLHSMV memo included a photo of a plate that was challenged in an appeals court under the earlier iteration law but was ultimately allowed. A “Drive Pink” frame slightly covered the top of that plate that says MyFlorida.com, as well as the bottom of the plate that says Sunshine State, but the registration tag and the six-digit identifier were visible.

Confusion continues

The intention of the law is to prevent people from blurring, tinting or otherwise hiding their license plate from law enforcement, security cameras and toll recorders, but some South Florida agencies interpreted the frame aspect of the law more broadly.

To comply with the latest clarification of the law, the Coral Springs Police Department’s traffic unit sergeant distributed the FLHSMV directive to its officers.

But confusion appears to remain among some local law enforcement. For instance, the City of Miramar posted on Facebook on Dec. 15, days after the state memo was issued, saying you can’t cover your plate at all.

“Covers, frames, sprays or accessories that block or obscure your tag — even slightly — can result in a traffic stop or citation under Florida Statute §320.061,” the City of Miramar said.

Many Facebook users took to the comments to post copies of the FLHSMV memo.

A spokesperson for the Miramar Police Department said Dec. 16 that it was a misprint on the city’s part making it sound like you can’t have any sort of license plate frame, and the social media post will be corrected. Officers have been informed on how to properly enforce the law.

The Pembroke Pines Police Department has now updated a social media post from before the memo went out to say officers won’t be handing out tickets for license plate frames, as long as they don’t cover the registration decal or alphanumeric identifier.

“Per the recent clarification from the FLHSMV regarding interpretation of the new law, the state identifier is not considered primary information and drivers would not be violating the law by blocking this lettering,” a spokesperson for the department said Dec. 16.

The Coral Springs News reached out to the Broward Sheriff’s Office to confirm how it will enforce the law and was awaiting a response.

This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM.