Reagan license plate clear Senate panel

A file photo of traffic (pixabay).

A Senate panel Tuesday approved a bill that would create a specialty license plate honoring the late President Ronald Reagan, with proceeds from sales of the plate going to Alzheimer's disease research and programs and the Florida National Guard Foundation.

The Senate Transportation Committee voted unanimously to approve the bill (SB 468), filed by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.

The bill, filed for the 2018 legislative session, would lead to motorists paying a $25 fee for the specialty “President Ronald Reagan” plate. The state already has more than 120 specialty plates, according to a Senate staff analysis.

“I think probably the philosophical question that I run into is, `Do you really want to start doing presidents?' And I say I'm fine with honoring anybody, but you (the honorees) have to be dead to do it,' Baxley said.

Reagan died after a highly publicized battle with Alzheimer's disease.