BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 144
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Ma
VERSION: 6/24/09
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: June 30, 2009
SUBJECT:
Violations of disabled parking laws
DESCRIPTION:
This bill provides cities and counties with greater authority to
cite disabled parking offenses with civil parking citations,
sets minimum penalty amounts for these civil offenses, and
extends an existing 10 percent special penalty assessment to
additional criminal and civil citations.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for the authorized user of a
disability license plate or placard to permit the use of the
plate or placard by another person, for an unauthorized user to
use the plates or placards, or for anyone to display a
disability placard that has been canceled or revoked. These
offenses are punishable as criminal misdemeanors, for which the
total fine, including the base fine and standard 270 percent
penalty assessments, is $950.
Existing law also makes it illegal to leave a vehicle parked in,
standing in, or blocking a parking space designated for persons
with disabilities or in the cross-hatched area designated for
the loading and unloading of vehicles in such a space. In
addition, local governments may adopt their own ordinances
prohibiting the use of a disability placard when the placard has
been reported lost, stolen, surrendered, cancelled, revoked, or
expired. As with all parking violations, these offenses are
generally enforced as civil offenses subject to a civil penalty,
and local governments set the fine amounts for violations that
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occur within their jurisdictions.
For all disabled parking violations except for the violation of
a local ordinance, in lieu of
leaving a civil ticket on the vehicle, a peace office may
instead cite a driver directly with a criminal citation. If
cited as a criminal infraction, the total fine, including the
base fine, the standard 270 percent penalty assessments, and a
special 10 percent assessment specific to disabled parking
violations, is $975. The proceeds of this special 10 percent
assessment specific to disabled parking violations go to the
general fund of the city or county where the violation occurred.
This bill :
Provides that a city or county, in lieu of prosecution as a
misdemeanor, may issue a civil parking citation for the
unauthorized use, lending, or display of a disability license
plate or placard and set the civil penalty at an amount
between $250 and $1000. The enforcement and collection of
such civil citations shall be governed by the procedures
applicable to all other parking citations.
Allows a city or county to adopt a local ordinance making it a
civil offense to park in a disabled space or display a
disability license plate or placard to obtain parking
privileges when the vehicle is not being used to transport the
authorized user of the plate or placard or when the plate or
placard is counterfeit, forged, altered, or mutilated.
Extends the special 10 percent assessment that currently
applies to specific criminal violations of disabled parking
laws to all of the following offenses, whether they are cited
civilly or criminally, and directs the proceeds from this
assessment to the city or county generally, rather than
specifying the general fund of the city or county, where the
violation occurred:
? Parking in, standing in, or blocking a disabled parking
space or the cross-hatched area designated for the loading
and unloading of vehicles in such a space;
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? The unauthorized use, lending, or display of a
disability license plate or placard; and
? The violation of a local ordinance relating to these
offenses.
Provides that civil penalties established by cities and
counties for disabled parking violations shall be not less
than $250 and not more than $1,000 and allows a violator to
pay these penalties in installments if the issuing agency
determines that the violator is unable to pay the entire
amount in one payment.
Clarifies that the issuing agency may suspend the imposition
of a civil penalty if the violator, at the time of the
offense, possessed but failed to display a valid disability
license or placard.
Provides that a person may not be subject to both a civil and
criminal citation for the same violation.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . The goal of this bill is to improve
access, mobility, and quality of life for drivers with
disabilities by facilitating the enforcement of laws that
prohibit parking in spaces designated for persons with
disabilities and the unauthorized use of disability license
plates and placards. By allowing cities and counties to cite
the unauthorized use, lending, or display of disability
license plates and placards with civil parking tickets, as
opposed to having the district attorney prosecute them as
criminal offenses, a local jurisdiction will be able to
provide a faster, more convenient, and less intimidating
process for paying or protesting these citations. In
addition, removing the adjudication of these violations from
the criminal courts will save judicial resources and allow
parking control officers to be on the street enforcing the law
instead of in courtrooms. The bill further seeks to
disincentivize disabled parking violations by establishing
minimum civil penalty amounts and applying a 10 percent
additional assessment.
2.Parity between criminal and civil violations . Most disabled
parking offenses are odd in that they can be cited either
criminally or civilly. While criminal citations are extremely
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rare, this dual authority creates a lot of confusion and leads
to uneven applications. Provisions and penalty amounts that
apply to a criminal violation of one offense may not apply to
a civil violation of the same offense. While generally
expanding the use of civil citations for disabled parking
offenses, this bill also cleans up existing law by more
clearly distinguishing between criminal and civil violations
and creating more parity between the two. At the same time,
the bill clearly establishes that violators may not be subject
to double jeopardy (i.e., civil and criminal prosecution) for
a single parking offense.
3.Assessments go to a city or county . In applying the 10
percent special assessment to a greater range of disabled
parking violations, this bill generally maintains current law
that directs such assessments to the city or county where the
violation occurred. This dedication of funds dates back to
1992, and staff is unaware of the rationale for it. It may
well be that the intent was to provide resources for local
governments to increase education or enforcement of disabled
parking laws. That said, there is no requirement that the
funds be spent for any particular purpose.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 73-3
Appr: 16-0
Trans: 12-1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 24, 2009)
SUPPORT: City and County of San Francisco (sponsor)
Access Services
American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Public Parking Association
City of Costa Mesa
City of West Hollywood
League of California Cities
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Planning for Elders
San Francisco Medical Society
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
San Francisco Paratransit Executive Coordinating
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Council
San Joaquin County Commission on Aging
one individual
OPPOSED: None received.