Fiona McFarland transportation overhaul touching red-light cameras, speed limits and privacy clears House Committee

A wide-ranging transportation overhaul bill touching on red-light camera reform, data privacy protections, residential speed control and a contentious disabled parking amendment cleared another hurdle, advancing from the House Budget Committee after emotional testimony and debate over accessibility rights.

The measure, HB 543, sponsored by Sarasota Republican Rep. Fiona McFarland, would require the Florida Department of Transportation to increase the minimum perception-reaction time for steady yellow traffic signals at intersections equipped with red-light cameras by 0.4 seconds.

But HB 543 stretches far beyond signal timing. The most personal testimony of the afternoon centered on an amendment made during the bill’s previous committee stop addressing parking for the disabled. The amendment would allow vehicles displaying valid disabled parking permits and equipment — such as wheelchair ramps or lifts — to occupy more than one parking space if no designated space is available. Such vehicles could not be cited or towed solely for occupying multiple spaces provided they do not block traffic lanes, fire lanes or emergency routes or create an immediate safety hazard.

Disability advocates urged lawmakers to reconsider the approach, however, arguing it fails to address underlying shortages in accessible parking spaces. They criticized a law approved last year that allows pregnant women to park in spaces designated for people with disabilities for creating a problem that HB 543 seeks to Band-Aid, but they would rather see real solutions to the problem. Disabled resident Olivia Keller said the amendment is well intentioned, but implored lawmakers to roll back last year’s law allowing pregnant women to park in spaces for the disabled instead of permitting double parking that could create dangerous situations.

“I have to go every four years and prove that I am disabled and I have to check one of four boxes saying I’m a wheelchair user, I can’t walk more than 200 feet, I’m blind or have a respiratory condition,” Keller said.

“Whereas someone else can be six weeks pregnant, go get a note from the doctor saying they are six weeks pregnant, and they can use disabled parking without any mobility impairment. That is not what this was meant for. If you want to do separate expectant mother parking, go for it. I don’t care. Knock yourself out. I’ve been pregnant, I know it is uncomfortable .. I am not against helping pregnant women, but I’m not going to sacrifice myself.”

Some members acknowledged the concerns about disabled parking, but noted the broad scope of the bill. Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Allison Tant said she is sensitive to the disabled parking situation and said there could be a comprehensive discussion about the matter in the future.

“I do believe that Representative McFarland will proceed forward with looking at that,” Tant said. “I told her I would help her, or I would be right there with her, but I do think this is only one small portion of a bill that we’ve got to continue to push forward.”

The bill also touches on other transportation issues. It indicates speed limits in business or residence districts must be 30 miles per hour, and 55 miles per hour at all other locations, but allows counties or municipalities to adopt lower speed limits on local streets and highways if an investigation determines such limits are reasonable.

The bill establishes new requirements for certain seaports in counties with designated spaceport territory that support spacecraft launch and recovery operations. Affected seaports would be required to submit annual reports to the Chair of the Space Florida board detailing steps taken to support commercial space launch activities and to publicly post those reports online beginning February 2027. It also places new limits on converting land or infrastructure that supports “cargo purposes” to other uses when state funds are involved, including public notice and approval requirements for the governing board and indicating that such conversions would require legislative approval for use of state funds.

HB 543 also requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to establish a secure, optional electronic credentialing system that requires explicit consent before transmitting data and allows offline verification without contacting state databases. The system would prohibit retention of IP addresses, geolocation data and similar identifying information. Private entities scanning digital credentials would be barred from storing or sharing personal information without clear and informed consent, with violations subject to civil penalties of up to $5,000 per occurrence.

The bill also restricts license plate reader companies from sharing sensitive vehicle registration data with private parties, and clarifies that license plate frames are permissible so long as they do not obscure the alphanumeric license plate number or registration decal.

Additional provisions revise micro mobility definitions, clarify electric bicycle regulations, and streamline the process for converting golf carts into low-speed vehicles.

An amendment adopted during the meeting removed a previously proposed Next-generation Traffic Signal Modernization Grant Program from the bill.

McFarland emphasized that the bill’s broader aim is to balance technological modernization with privacy protections.

“Technology is a great convenience that we all love to enjoy,” she said. “But every time there’s a convenience with a piece of data exchange, we should be very careful from a government perspective as to what privacy we’re giving up with that exchange.”

The Committee voted to advance the bill to its third stop with the House State Affairs Committee. Two comparable bills, SB 1274 and SB 1080 sponsored by St. Petersburg Republican Nick DiCeglie, have been filed in the Senate and have cleared their first and second committee stops respectively. If approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, the bill would take effect July 1.