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Committee backs tougher, civil enforcement for disability parking violations in hearing

House Judiciary · January 16, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

House Bill 38 would move many ADA parking violations from misdemeanor to civil parking citations, raise first‑offense fines to a stronger tiered scale, and add penalties for providing false information to obtain a placard; disability advocates and municipal officials supported the changes at committee hearing.

Representative Greg Oblander opened House Bill 38, describing frequent misuse of disability parking spaces and a desire to give cities practical, enforceable tools. Oblander said the bill raises the first violation to a $150 fine (up from $100) with escalated penalties for repeated offenses, and makes the offense a parking violation rather than a misdemeanor so parking enforcement staff (not only police) can issue citations.

Kelly Lynch, executive director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, testified in support and explained why…

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