BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 144|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 144
Author: Ma (D)
Amended: 6/24/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 7-3, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Pavley,
Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-3, 5/18/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Violations of disabled parking laws
SOURCE : City and County of San Francisco
DIGEST : 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
CONTINUED
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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 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:
1. 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 $1,000. The
enforcement and collection of such civil citations shall
be governed by the procedures applicable to all other
parking citations.
2. Allows a city or county to adopt a local ordinance
making it a civil offense to park in a disabled space or
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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.
3. 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:
A. 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.
B. The unauthorized use, lending, or display of a
disability license plate or placard.
C. The violation of a local ordinance relating to
these offenses.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Provides that a person may not be subject to both a
civil and criminal citation for the same violation.
Comments
Purpose of the bill . The goal of this bill is to improve
access, mobility, and quality of life for drivers with
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/7/09) (Unable to reverify)
City and County of San Francisco (source)
Access Services
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Public Parking Association
Cities of Costa Mesa and 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 Council
San Joaquin County Commission on Aging
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
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Duvall, Emmerson, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Yamada, Bass
NOES: Gaines, Niello, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: DeVore, Eng, Price, Saldana
JJA:mw 7/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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