BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2602
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2602 (Gatto) - As Amended May 11, 2016
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|Policy |Transportation |Vote:|10 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill, effective January 1, 2018, establishes a two-tiered
disabled person parking system, whereby only those persons with
disabilities that severely limit mobility and dexterity may
qualify for free and unlimited parking at metered spaces and at
parking payment centers or kiosks, and for unlimited parking in
parking zones with time limits. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the DMV, commencing January 1, 2017, to begin
notifying all existing disabled placard (DP) holders of the
new two-tiered. The free-parking status will be indicated by
AB 2602
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affixing a sticker or emblem to the DP, or by another indicia
as determined by the DMV.
2)Stipulates that expiration of a driver's free-parking
designation would coincide with the expiration of their DP.
3)Requires those applying for free-parking status to do so under
penalty of perjury.
4)Requires, in order to qualify for a free-parking designation,
an applicant must be unable to perform one or more of the
following activities:
a) Manage, manipulate, or insert coins, or obtain tickets
or tokens at parking meters or payment centers, due to lack
of fine motor controls of both hands;
b) Reach above his or her head to a height of 42 inches
from the ground due to a lack of finger, hand, or upper
extremity strength or mobility;
c) Approach a parking meter due to his or her use of a
wheelchair, walker or other mobility device, or if his or
her medical provider determines it would be unsafe for the
person to let go of the mobility device in order to operate
a meter; or,
d) Walk more than 20 feet due to an orthopedic,
neurological, cardiovascular, or lung condition in with the
degree of debilitation is so severe that almost completely
impedes the ability to walk.
AB 2602
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5)Stipulates that someone with a clear, permanent disability
does not have to recertify their status as permanently
disabled under new DP program.
6)Requires the DMV, prior to approving someone for the
free-parking designation, to be provided with a certificate,
completed and signed by a medical practitioner substantiating
the person's disability and providing a full description of
the qualifying condition, unless the person's disability is
readily observable and uncontested.
7)Provides that the medical form submitted by an applicant for a
free-parking designation must be retained by the approving
medical practitioner for inspection by the Medical Board of
California or appropriate regulatory board.
8)Adds providing a false certification for a free-parking
designation to the existing list of unprofessional conduct for
a medical practitioner licensed by the state.
9)Prohibits the DMV from issuing more than one item at a time
that designates and individual as eligible for free parking
under the DP program, and authorizes the DMV to cancel or
revoke a free parking designation that was fraudulently
obtained or used.
10)Provides that all fines and penalties under the existing DP
program apply to misuse of the free-status program.
FISCAL EFFECT:
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One-time special fund costs to DMV in the range of $350,000,
related to programming modifications, processing placard
applications, and responding to phone inquiries. Ongoing costs
would be minor and absorbable. The department indicates that
there are about 2.4 million permanent disabled placards and
500,000 disabled person license plates. The department assumes
that 150,000 persons will apply for free-parking status in the
first year and 20,000 each year thereafter. [Motor Vehicle
Account]
COMMENTS:
1)Background. The issue of parking privileges for disabled
persons is a sensitive one, wherein the state has rightfully
recognized the need to accommodate individuals with mobility
problems. At the same time, the privilege of free and
unlimited parking that accompanies DP plates and placards
results in greater incidents of abuse of DP placards by people
who are not, in fact, disabled. While the actual magnitude of
DP placard abuse is difficult to verify, reports in
metropolitan areas show that the majority of metered spaces
are taken by vehicles bearing DP placards. For example, a
survey conducted by the City of Sacramento found that 73% of
metered parking spaces in certain areas of the city were
occupied by cars bearing DP placards and that the majority of
these cars were parked in the spaces most of the day,
suggesting that the occupants worked in nearby areas. Surveys
conducted by the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit
Association (SFMTA) also indicate that fraudulent placard use
is a significant problem, whereby SFMTA notes that on many
occasions, nearly 50% of cars parked in downtown San Francisco
have DP placards and resulting substantial lost parking
revenues as well as less frequent parking space "turnover."
In addition, studies performed by the University of California
at Los Angeles (UCLA) found that metered curbside parking in
downtown areas of Los Angeles are, for the most part, filled
most of day by cars bearing DP placards. The UCLA study went
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on to note that despite a metered rate of $4 per hour, the
city of Los Angeles only earns about $.32 per hour because
cars with DP placards consume 80% of the meter time.
2)Purpose. To address the growing problem of DP placard fraud
and abuse, and to provide legitimately disabled person and the
general population with better parking access, the author has
introduced this bill which would outline a new policy for
California's DP parking placard program. Specifically, this
bill would create a two-tiered approach to DP parking, much
like the programs that are in place in Michigan and Illinois,
where individuals with severe mobility impairments may
continue to park for free at metered spaces if they qualify
for and obtain a yellow sticker, while individuals with less
severe disabilities would be allowed to access preferential DP
parking but be required to pay for parking at metered spaces.
The author points out that in Illinois, where free and
unlimited time at parking meters is only offered to a smaller
subset of persons with disabilities, only 41,000 applied for
the free parking sticker out of the nearly 479,000 placards
issued. The author also points to similar programs in Michigan
where fraud is said to have dropped dramatically when the
yellow sticker programs were implemented. Reports did not
indicate, however, whether or not the programs excluded or
inconvenienced legitimately disabled individuals.
3)Opposition. Disability rights advocates contend that the
levels of suspected DP placard fraud may be overblown. They
note that many assert that fraud is occurring because large
numbers of DP plates and placards are issued, but they counter
that more people with disabilities are getting out into
society, thereby creating the need for more parking placards.
Californians for Disability Rights, Inc. points out that AB
2602 would strip away important privileges that were intended
to ameliorate longstanding and still persistent civil rights
AB 2602
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violations. They claim that this bill would substantially
impact persons with disabilities who encounter multiple
physical barriers so that local jurisdictions can obtain
parking revenues. They contend that if "rampant" abuse is
occurring, DMV as well as the municipalities should deal with
the fraud through enforcement rather than further burdening
the disabled community. At the time of this analysis, it is
unclear to what extent the author's most recent amendments
addressed opposition concerns.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081