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House passes stricter penalties for parking in handicap spaces after amendment
Summary
House Bill 19, which raised penalties for parking in designated handicap spaces and initially allowed impoundment, was amended on the floor to limit mandatory towing and then passed 64–5 after debate about signage, due process for disabled drivers and appropriate penalty levels.
The Utah House of Representatives passed House Bill 19 as amended after extended floor debate over penalties and towing authority for vehicles illegally parked in handicap spaces.
Representative Janice (Janet) Rose, sponsor of HB19, told the chamber the measure “makes it a much stricter penalty for people to park in a handicap zone. It moves it from an infraction to a class C misdemeanor as well as allows for impounding, and it also requires that you need to have a handicapped person in the vehicle.” She said the intent was to reduce abuse of handicapped parking privileges.
Lawmakers raised concerns about mandatory impoundment, the risk of towing legitimately disabled drivers who lack visible credentials (for example, because a placard was obscured by snow), and the appropriate severity of penalties. Representative Stevens proposed amendments and a substitute motion to remove the impoundment language and adjust the statutory cross‑reference; the House adopted the substitute amendment to eliminate mandatory impoundment language and to retain citation and enforcement provisions that differentiate public and private property contexts.
Representative Olsen and others emphasized due-process and the practical risk of impounding a vehicle belonging to a legitimately disabled person; Representative LeBaron and others spoke in support of stronger penalties to protect available handicap parking spaces.
After floor amendments and a recorded vote, HB19 as amended passed the House 64–5 and will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.
Next steps: The amended bill is forwarded to the Senate; sponsors said they may return with further changes if enforcement issues persist.
