CS for SB 226 First Engrossed
2012226e1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to disabled parking permits; amending
3 s. 318.18, F.S.; providing for a parking enforcement
4 specialist or agency to validate compliance for the
5 disposition of a citation issued for illegally parking
6 in a space provided for people who have disabilities;
7 amending s. 320.0848, F.S.; revising requirements for
8 renewal or replacement of a disabled parking permit;
9 prohibiting applying for a new disabled parking permit
10 for a certain period of time upon a second finding of
11 guilt or plea of nolo contendere to unlawful use of
12 such permit; requiring the Department of Highway
13 Safety and Motor Vehicles to randomly review disabled
14 parking permitholders, verify certain information, and
15 invalidate the permit of a deceased permitholder;
16 directing the department to implement a means for
17 reporting abuse of disabled parking permits; providing
18 an effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Subsection (6) of section 318.18, Florida
23 Statutes, is amended to read:
24 318.18 Amount of penalties.—The penalties required for a
25 noncriminal disposition pursuant to s. 318.14 or a criminal
26 offense listed in s. 318.17 are as follows:
27 (6) One hundred dollars or the fine amount designated by
28 county ordinance, plus court costs for illegally parking, under
29 s. 316.1955, in a parking space provided for people who have
30 disabilities. However, this fine shall will be waived if a
31 person provides to the law enforcement agency or parking
32 enforcement specialist or agency that issued the citation for
33 such a violation proof that the person committing the violation
34 has a valid parking permit or license plate issued pursuant to
35 s. 316.1958, s. 320.0842, s. 320.0843, s. 320.0845, or s.
36 320.0848 or a signed affidavit that the owner of the disabled
37 parking permit or license plate was present at the time the
38 violation occurred, and that such a parking permit or license
39 plate was valid at the time the violation occurred. The law
40 enforcement officer or agency or the parking enforcement
41 specialist or agency, upon determining that all required
42 documentation has been submitted verifying that the required
43 parking permit or license plate was valid at the time of the
44 violation, must sign an affidavit of compliance. Upon provision
45 of the affidavit of compliance and payment of a dismissal fee of
46 up to $7.50 to the clerk of the circuit court, the clerk shall
47 dismiss the citation.
48 Section 2. Paragraph (d) of subsection (1), paragraph (e)
49 of subsection (2), and subsection (8) of section 320.0848,
50 Florida Statutes, are amended, present subsections (9) and (10)
51 are renumbered as subsections (11) and (12), respectively, and
52 new subsections (9) and (10) are added to that section, to read:
53 320.0848 Persons who have disabilities; issuance of
54 disabled parking permits; temporary permits; permits for certain
55 providers of transportation services to persons who have
56 disabilities.—
57 (1)
58 (d) Beginning October 1, 2012 April 1, 1999, the department
59 of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall renew the disabled
60 parking permit of any person certified as permanently disabled
61 on the application if the person provides a certificate of
62 disability issued within the last 12 months pursuant to this
63 subsection.
64 (2) DISABLED PARKING PERMIT; PERSONS WITH LONG-TERM
65 MOBILITY PROBLEMS.—
66 (e) To obtain a replacement for a disabled parking permit
67 that has been lost or stolen, a person must submit an
68 application on a form prescribed by the department, provide a
69 certificate of disability issued within the last 12 months
70 pursuant to subsection (1), and must pay a replacement fee in
71 the amount of $1 $1.00, to be retained by the issuing agency. If
72 the person submits with the application a police report
73 documenting that the permit was stolen, there is no replacement
74 fee.
75 (8) A law enforcement officer or a parking enforcement
76 specialist may confiscate the disabled parking permit from any
77 person who fraudulently obtains or unlawfully uses such a
78 permit. A law enforcement officer or a parking enforcement
79 specialist may confiscate any disabled parking permit that is
80 expired, reported as lost or stolen, or defaced, or that does
81 not display a personal identification number.
82 (a) Beginning April 1, 1999, The permit number of each
83 confiscated permit must be submitted to the department of
84 Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the fact that the permit
85 has been confiscated must be noted on the permitholder’s record.
86 If two permits issued to the same person have been confiscated,
87 the department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall refer
88 the information to the central abuse hotline of the Department
89 of Children and Family Services for an investigation of
90 potential abuse, neglect, or exploitation of the permit owner.
91 (b) A confiscated permit must be held as evidence until a
92 judicial decision about the violation has been made. After a
93 finding of guilt has been made or a plea of nolo contendere has
94 been entered, the charging agency shall destroy the confiscated
95 permit. A confiscated permit may not, under any circumstances,
96 be returned to its registered owner after a finding of guilt has
97 been made or a plea of nolo contendere has been entered in
98 court. If a finding of guilt has been made or a plea of nolo
99 contendere has been entered for fraudulent or other unlawful use
100 of a disabled parking permit after a prior finding of guilt or
101 plea of nolo contendere for fraudulent or other unlawful use of
102 a disabled parking permit issued to the same registered
103 permitholder, the permitholder may not apply for a new disabled
104 parking permit for 4 years. The permit number of each destroyed
105 permit must be reported to the department, and the department
106 must record in the real-time disabled parking permit database
107 that the permit has been invalidated.
108 (9)(a) At least once every 6 months, the department shall
109 randomly review disabled parking permitholders to ensure that
110 all required criteria for the ownership and possession of such
111 permit remain valid. As a component of the review, the
112 department shall, at a minimum:
113 1. Review death records maintained by the Department of
114 Health to ensure that the permitholder has not died.
115 2. Review the number of times the permit has been
116 confiscated for fraudulent or unlawful use, if at all.
117 3. Determine if the permit has ever been reported lost or
118 stolen and, if so, determine the current status of the permit.
119 (b) At least annually, the department shall verify that the
120 owner of each disabled parking permit has not died. Such
121 verification shall include, but need not be limited to,
122 consultation of death records maintained by the Department of
123 Health. If a disabled parking permitholder is found to be
124 deceased, the department shall promptly invalidate the
125 decedent’s disabled parking permit.
126 (10) The department shall develop and implement a means by
127 which persons can report abuse of disabled parking permits by
128 telephone hotline or by submitting a form online or by mail.
129 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.