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Committee backs amendments to strengthen handicap-parking enforcement
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Summary
A House committee adopted amendments and gave a bill a favorable report that would raise penalties for handicap-parking abuse, add Department of Revenue QR/barcodes to placards and require timely reporting to invalidate placards after a holder’s death.
A House committee on Thursday adopted amendments and gave a favorable report to a bill that would increase penalties for misuse of handicap parking privileges and create a Department of Revenue system to identify placard holders.
Representative (speaker 4) told the committee that during recent ice storms he saw people misuse disabled-placard parking, often leaving genuinely disabled people with fewer options. The bill would increase fines and require the Department of Revenue to issue a QR or barcode on disabled parking placards to identify the person to whom a placard was issued and to make the placard invalid once the issuing authority is notified that the holder has died. "It just kinda rubbed me wrong," the sponsor said of seeing apparent abuse of disabled placards.
Committee members discussed amendments to move an implementation date so the Department of Revenue can prepare and to involve local licensing officials in notifications. Representative Jackson moved the amendment, seconded by Representative Betzfeld; the amendment was adopted by voice vote. The bill was later given a favorable report by voice vote.
The committee did not record an itemized roll-call vote; the record shows the amendment and the favorable report were adopted by a voice vote. The bill text referenced a delayed implementation clause so the Department of Revenue can develop necessary procedures by the new effective date.
Next steps: The committee forwarded the bill as amended for further consideration. Individual vote tallies were not recorded in the committee transcript.
