Registration; duties of tax collectors.

(1)(a) The tax collectors in the counties of the state, as authorized agents of the department, shall issue registration certificates and vessel numbers and decals to applicants, subject to the requirements of law and in accordance with rules of the department.

(b) Upon a tax collector’s request, the department may provide ancillary technology to integrate other tax collection systems used by tax collectors in order to provide tax collectors with data access and uniform interface functionalities for registration renewal transactions performed at a tax collector’s office or online via a tax collector’s website. The department shall prescribe the best manner of delivering the data access and uniform interface functionalities to tax collectors for the purpose of processing registration renewal transactions and shall provide the ability to record and process registration renewal transactions in the state system in real time and bulk data reporting for vessel registrations, including each applicant’s e-mail address collected pursuant to s. 328.30. Such data and functionality may be used only for purposes of fulfilling the tax collector’s statutory duties pursuant to this chapter, chapter 319, chapter 320, or chapter 322 and may not be resold or used for any other purpose. Such data access and uniform interface functionalities shall be developed no later than July 1, 2023. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “registration renewal transactions” means vessel registration certificates, vessel numbers, and decals.

(2) Each tax collector shall keep a full and complete record and account of all vessel decals or other properties received by him or her from the department or from any other source and shall make prompt remittance of moneys collected by him or her at the times and in the manner prescribed by law.

(3) A fee of 50 cents shall be charged in addition to the fees required under s. 328.72 on every vessel decal registration sold to cover the cost of the Florida Real Time Vehicle Information System. The fees collected under this section shall be deposited into the Highway Safety Operating Trust Fund and shall be used to fund that system and may be used to fund the general operations of the department.

(4) Notwithstanding chapter 116, every county officer within this state authorized to collect funds provided for in this chapter shall pay all sums officially received by the officer into the State Treasury no later than 5 working days after the close of the business day in which the officer received the funds. Payment by county officers to the state shall be made by means of electronic funds transfer.