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On December 15th, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 6A, establishing the “Florida 
Toll Relief Program” through the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which will provide account credits to frequent commuters using toll roads across the state. The program will give Floridians with 35 or more toll transactions per month a 50% credit to their account. The legislation, originally proposed by Governor DeSantis in September of this year, was successfully passed during the recent Legislative Special Session. The Toll Relief Program begins on January 1, 2023, and runs through December 31, 2023.
“I promised Floridians that I would find additional ways to provide toll relief for Florida families,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “With this legislation, we are keeping that promise to help hardworking families keep more money in their pockets. I applaud the Florida Legislature for prioritizing this during the special session.”
The bill was approved unanimously by both the House of Representatives and the Florida Senate in a bipartisan show of support. The new law applies to all toll facilities, roads, bridges and tunnels, operated in the State of Florida, including managed lanes, expressways operated by MDX, CFX and THEA, as well as local SunPass roads and facilities in Miami-Dade County like the Venetian Causeway, the Rickenbacker Causeway and the Broad Causeway. Managed or variable toll roads like those on I-95 and I-75, are also included in the law. The program established by the Florida law is fully funded for the entire 2023 calendar year commencing January 1st.
Darlene M. Fernandez, P.E Executive Director of Miami Dade Expressway says “the simplest way to describe how the law works is ’35 for 50,’ in simplest terms any combination of toll transactions on any toll road in the State of Florida totaling 35 transactions in a calendar month, whether 20 on the MDX Expressways, 5 on the Florida Turnpike 5 on I-95 managed lanes and 10 on the Rickenbacker Causeway will garner the customer a 50 percent toll rebate from the trust fund established within the Turnpike Enterprises for this program”.
The law, which is a law of general application and applies to every tolling entity in the State of Florida. South Florida toll facilities included in Florida Toll Relief Program include the 75 Express toll lanes, Palmetto Express toll lanes, the I-95 Express toll lanes, and the 595 Express toll lanes operated by the Florida Department of Transportation; the Florida Turnpike and the Sawgrass Expressway Express toll lanes operated by Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise; the Airport Expressway (S.R. 112), Dolphin Expressway (S.R. 836), Don Shula Expressway (S.R. 874), Snapper Creek Expressway (S.R. 878), and Gratigny Parkway (S.R. 924) operated by the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX); the Card Sound Bridge operated by the Monroe County Card Sound Toll Authority; the Broad Causeway operated by Bay Harbor Islands; and the Venetian Causeway and the Rickenbacker Causeway operated by Miami-Dade County.
