Q: Can another state site me for an vehicle equipment violation that is not a violation in the state I live in?

A: Yes, you can be cited for a traffic citation. You must comply with the laws of the State in which you are driving.

A: Unless Pennsylvania has adopted a policy not to issue citations to out-of-state registered vehicles with legal equipment that would be illegal in PA, then you may have to fight it all the way to the US Supeme Court, and test the application of the law to you under the Equal Protection Clause, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, or the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. There are "right-to-travel" cases that may be applicable. For instance, when state vehicle safety standards are inconsistent, the “dormant” interstate commerce clause can be triggered. The leading U.S. Supreme Court case on inconsistent state vehicle safety standards dates to 1959. In that case, Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Illinois had mandated curved mudguards on heavy trucks. Arkansas mandated straight mudguards. Straight mudguards were legal in every state other than Illinois and were the interstate trucking industry standard. There was no federal mudguard standard. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Illinois curved mudguard statute placed an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, but noted that a new safety device, out of line with the requirements of other states, could be so compelling that the innovating state need not be the one to give way.

However, in a 2008 trial level federal court case, United States v. Walters, the defendant was stopped in the District of Columbia by officers based on the belief that the windows of his Maryland-registered vehicle were too darkly tinted in violation of the D.C. Code. A tint meter test revealed that the front driver’s side window violated what the District requires: 70 percent light transmittance. The issue in the case was whether an officer’s reasonable suspicion that a vehicle’s windows are too heavily tinted must be based on the District’s tint-level limits or those of the state in which the vehicle is registered. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the District limits apply because “District of Columbia law provides that no vehicle may be operated or parked upon the public streets or spaces of the District of Columbia with a ‘front windshield or front side windows that allow less than 70 percent light transmittance,’ regardless of where the car is registered.” Thus, the only applicable tint-levels for all motorists operating within the District are those specified in the D.C. Code. After that case, however, the DC Council adopted guidelines regarding stopping out of state vehicles for a window tint violation, and directed that no citation be issued for window tinting so long as the tint level was in complaince with the state laws where the vehicle is registered.

It would be prudent to carry a copy of the Florida law with you on legal level of window tinting, or any FL state certificate confirmng your window tint is legal, as well as advise the officer you are just driving through the state or visiting for a brief time. They may allow you to go with just a warning. But ultimately, yes, you can be given a citation for violating a state's window tint laws despite the fact that the tint is legal in the state where your vehicle is registered.