TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A controversial motor vehicles bill that could have left consumers legally waiting for two months for a title to register used cars is now “dead,” according to the bill’s only local sponsor – Democratic House Rep. Andrew Learned, of Hillsborough County.

This follows a seven-month Better Call Behnken investigation into extreme title delays that have left some consumers unable to drive their new purchases.

Learned said he signed on to co-sponsor the bill so that he could change the original wording that he agrees was not consumer-friendly.

“I wanted to make this better,” he said.

But even after a massive overhaul to the bill, it failed to gain enough support to move through the law-making process. House Bill 1517 made it through one of two committees and was not even put on the agenda for the second one. The identical Senate Bill 1346 didn’t make it on the any of the three committees it needed to go through.

The original bills aimed to take away the 30-day requirement for car dealers to apply to transfer a title into the consumer’s name so they can register their car in their name. It changed the word “must” give you a title to “should” give you a title and took away the penalties the state could impose, such as fines and revocation of a license for failure to follow the law.

Learned said he wanted to only extend the 30 day requirement to to 45 days and only during the pandemic. The new language, however, went to 60 days, and even Learned said he didn’t like that.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles sent this statement about the amendment:

“The most common complaint the department receives against auto dealers is customers not receiving their motor vehicle tag and title in a timely manner. Considering this, the department still has concerns with this legislation in its current form.”

And now, after passing through only one House committee, the bill has failed to move to additional committees. With the session nearly over, it appears this bill is over, too – for now.

Ted Smith, of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association, says he’s disappointed and he hopes this bill will be back – in some format – next year.