What will happen to your yellow license plate sticker? Miami leader has an idea

Goodbye, yellow license plate sticker?

Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez — citing outdated technology, fraud, expense and a false sense of security — hopes a new law filed by two South Florida state legislators will eliminate the yearly registration of your cars through the old sticker system.

Earlier in December, Fernandez approached the state representatives to urge for a new law, which would start on July 1, 2026, if passed by the Florida Legislature in the new year.

“Public safety should never depend on outdated tools,” Fernandez said in an email to the Miami Herald.

MORE: License plate decals are all over the place in Miami. There’s only one place to stick it

What you would need to do for car registration

According to the House and Senate bill filed by Miami Lakes Rep. Tom Fabricio and Doral Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, you would still have to register your car every year, for about $28, the current fee, but this would be done electronically.

You wouldn’t leave your auto tag agency with a paper and a yellow sticker to affix to your car or receive one in the mail, as has been the case for decades.

Fernandez’s proposal “simply removes an outdated physical sticker while maintaining full compliance through the electronic verification systems already used statewide,” he said.

How vehicle registration works

A registration number specific to your license plate and the car’s registered owner or person leasing the car would be filed electronically with the state. These numeric and alphanumeric details would be accessible to law enforcement officers should they need to run your tag to check the registration during a traffic stop.

Connecticut and Vermont in 2010, and Pennsylvania in 2016, did away with registration stickers in favor of the system Florida is proposing.

“Experience in other states that have eliminated physical decals shows that accountability does not disappear. It improves,” Fernandez said. “Electronic systems provide exact registration status at the moment of a traffic stop, rather than relying on a small piece of plastic that may be expired or counterfeit. Physical decals are also a known target for fraud and can create a false sense of security.”

When does your car tag expire? Is it OK to drive with an old one? What Florida law says

Tallahassee reaction

Florida Politics reported that Fernandez estimated that Miami-Dade County could save $2.5 million every year. citing the state’s expenses in producing the stickers, and mailing and replacing them.

Fabricio credited Fernandez with the cost-cutting idea to ditch the sticker and for bringing the idea to representatives.

Gov. Ron DeSantis shared the X post Sunday afternoon, applauding, “Good job Tom — get it done!”

“Every police officer and police agency I’ve spoken to tells me that all license plates are called in one form or another during a traffic stop, so it doesn’t provide safety; it’s just a burden and a cost for motorists,” Fabricio added in comments to Florida Politics.

Representatives meet for the 2026 legislative session to take up the bill’s proposal beginning Jan. 13.