BILL ANALYSIS
AB 144
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 144 (Ma)
As Amended June 24, 2009
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |73-3 |(May 18, 2009) |SENATE: |23-10|(August 31, |
| | | | | |2009) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Allows the inappropriate use of placards or license
plates issued to disabled persons to be adjudicated as a parking
violation.
The Senate amendments :
1)Require counties to add a 10% penalty assessment to criminal
violations of statutes dealing with disabled placards and
license plates, parking in spaces reserved for disabled
persons, and parking near sidewalk access ramps designated for
disabled persons.
2)Require counties, in the case of civil violations of statutes
dealing with all of the above, as well as the use of placards
that are lost, stolen, surrendered, cancelled, revoked, or
expired to add a 10% penalty assessment.
3)Change several of the bill's references from "parking
citation" to "notice of parking violation."
4)Specify that enforcement of the parking provisions dealt with
by this bill is to be governed by existing Vehicle Code
procedures for adjudicating parking violations.
5)Specify that a person shall not be subject to both a notice of
parking violation and a notice to appear for the same
violation.
6)Require the penalty for unlawfully parking in a space reserved
for disabled persons or using a lost, stolen, surrendered,
cancelled, revoked, or expired placard to be at least $250 and
not more than $1,000.
AB 144
Page 2
7)Allow that penalty to be suspended if the person possessed but
failed to display, at the time of the violation, a valid
disabled license plate or placard.
8)Allow that penalty to be paid in installments if the issuing
agency determines that the violator is unable to pay the
entire amount in one payment.
9)Specify that parking in a space reserved for disabled persons
is subject to either a civil notice of parking violation or a
criminal notice to appear.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows a disabled person or disabled veteran displaying
special license plates or a distinguishing placard to park for
unlimited periods in any restricted zone or on streets upon
which preferential parking privileges and height limits have
been given or in any parking zone that is restricted as to the
length of time parking is permitted.
2)Allows a disabled person or disabled veteran park in any
metered parking space without being required to pay parking
meter fees.
3)Allows local authorities to prohibit or restrict the parking
or standing of a vehicle or from a disabled person's parking
stall or space of a privately or publicly owned or operated
offstreet parking facility when the vehicle displays, in order
to obtain special parking privileges, a distinguishing
placard, and the placard has been reported as lost, stolen,
surrendered, cancelled, revoked, or expired, or was issued to
a person who had been reported as being deceased for a period
exceeding 60 days.
4)Specifies that violations of these restrictions are punishable
as a misdemeanor with a fine of $250 to $500 for the first
violation, $500 to $750 for the second violation, and $750 to
$1,000 for third and subsequent violations.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Established a parking violation punishable by a civil penalty
of $250 to $1,000 or a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of
$250 to $1,000, or six months imprisonment in county jail, or
AB 144
Page 3
by both such fine and imprisonment for any of the following:
a) A disabled person who knowingly permits his or her
disabled placard or plate to be used by a person not
entitled to it;
b) A person displaying a disabled placard that was not
issued to him or her (except when transporting a disabled
person), or a disabled placard that has been canceled or
revoked;
c) A person using a vehicle displaying a special
identification license plate issued to another who parks in
a parking stall or space designated for disabled persons;
or,
d) A person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes
or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false
disabled person placard.
2)Allowed local agencies to prohibit the use of disabled
persons' parking stalls and spaces within privately or
publicly owned or operated offstreet parking facilities by
vehicles displaying disabled placard or license plates if:
a) The placard or license plate is displayed on a vehicle
that is not being used to transport, and is not in the
reasonable proximity of, the person to whom the license
plate or placard was issued or a person who is authorized
to be transported in the vehicle displaying that placard or
license plate; or,
b) The placard or license plate is counterfeit, forged,
altered, or mutilated.
3)Increased, to $1,000 from the current $750, the maximum fine
for an infraction involving parking in a handicapped space
without a valid plate or placard.
4)Required cities and counties to impose a 10% assessment on
such fines for deposit into their general funds.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
AB 144
Page 4
Committee, potential reduction in local court-related costs to
the extent violations related to disabled placards and licenses
are shifted from misdemeanors to infractions as well as a
potential increase in local fine revenues, to the extent that
the flexibility results in greater enforcement of laws related
to use of a disabled person placard or license plates.
COMMENTS : The author points out that most violations of
disabled parking restrictions are treated as misdemeanors.
Misdemeanor violations are enforced by peace officers,
adjudicated through the courts, and carry potential jail terms
as punishment.
While this bill does not take away the ability to treat such
violations as misdemeanors, it also allows for them to be cited
as parking violations, subject to a civil penalty. "By
providing this alternative procedure for disabled placard
parking violations to be adjudicated outside of the criminal
court system, a local jurisdiction will be able to provide a
faster, more convenient, and less intimidating process for
paying or protesting these citations," the sponsor asserts.
Additionally, since law enforcement officials and courts may be
reluctant to prosecute placard violations as misdemeanors,
allowing for them to be pursued as parking violations could
actually increase the effective enforcement of disabled parking
violations. And, as asserted by the sponsor, adjudicating these
cases outside the criminal system provides the following
benefits:
1)Parking control officers are not required to be present in
court, thereby allowing for more officers on the street to
deter abuse; and,
2)Judicial resources can focus on violent crimes.
Finally, most disabled parking offenses are odd in that they can
be cited either criminally or civilly. While criminal citations
are extremely 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
AB 144
Page 5
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.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0002147