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Committee advances bill allowing municipalities to suspend vehicle registrations for unpaid parking fines
Summary
House Bill 1545 would let parking authorities or enforcement offices suspend vehicle registrations after six unpaid tickets or $500 in fines when the municipality contracts with PennDOT; committee reported the bill as committed.
The House Transportation Committee on Oct. 11, 2025, reported House Bill 1545, a proposal that would permit a parking authority or parking enforcement office to suspend a vehicle’s registration after the owner accumulates six unpaid parking tickets or at least $500 in unpaid parking fines, provided the municipality enters into an agreement with PennDOT.
The proposal aims to expand an enforcement power that PennDOT currently grants only to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, allowing other municipalities that contract with PennDOT to use vehicle-registration suspension to collect unpaid parking fines and better manage curb space.
Representative Manny Guzman, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the committee that Reading’s parking authority reported approximately $28 million in unpaid parking fines and described the measure as a way to “better manage curb space, especially crucial for people with disabilities, emergency responders, local residents.” A committee staff member, Kyle, summarized the bill for the record. Guzman said the measure intends to target repeat offenders while avoiding criminal penalties for low-income individuals.
Committee members voted to report the bill as committed; the chair announced no negative votes at the voice vote. Late in the meeting, a committee member asked to “correct the record” and stated they would vote no on House Bill 1545; the transcript does not record a formal roll-call tally or identify that member by full name in the correction. The committee record shows the bill was reported out of committee as committed and will advance for further consideration.
The bill text, as summarized to the committee, specifies that the suspension authority applies only to a municipality that has entered into an agreement with PennDOT and does not make suspensions retroactive to past parking violations. The transcript does not include implementing details about how PennDOT would administer agreements or procedures for drivers to contest suspensions.
