Florida Senate - 2014 SB 1560
By Senator Soto
14-01334-14 20141560__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the payment of tolls; amending s.
3 338.155, F.S.; exempting drivers of public school
4 buses and school district-owned vehicles on official
5 school district business from payment of tolls at
6 tollgates, bridges, and ferries; providing an
7 effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Section 338.155, Florida Statutes, is amended to
12 read:
13 338.155 Payment of toll on toll facilities required;
14 exemptions.—
15 (1) A person may not use any toll facility without payment
16 of tolls, except employees of the agency operating the toll
17 project when using the toll facility on official state business,
18 state military personnel while on official military business,
19 handicapped persons as provided in this section, persons exempt
20 from toll payment by the authorizing resolution for bonds issued
21 to finance the facility, persons driving a public school bus or
22 other school district-owned vehicle on official school district
23 business, and persons exempt on a temporary basis where use of
24 such toll facility is required as a detour route. A Any law
25 enforcement officer operating a marked official vehicle is
26 exempt from toll payment when on official law enforcement
27 business. A Any person operating a fire vehicle when on official
28 business or a rescue vehicle when on official business is exempt
29 from toll payment. A Any person participating in the funeral
30 procession of a law enforcement officer or firefighter killed in
31 the line of duty is exempt from toll payment. The Secretary of
32 Transportation or the secretary’s designee may suspend the
33 payment of tolls on a toll facility when necessary to assist in
34 emergency evacuation. The Failure to pay a prescribed toll is
35 constitutes a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a
36 moving violation as provided in s. 318.18. The department may
37 adopt rules relating to the payment, collection, and enforcement
38 of tolls, as authorized in this chapter and chapters 316, 318,
39 320, and 322, including, but not limited to, rules for the
40 implementation of video or other image billing and variable
41 pricing. With respect to toll facilities managed by the
42 department, the revenues of which are not pledged to repayment
43 of bonds, the department may by rule allow the use of such
44 facilities by public transit vehicles or by vehicles
45 participating in a funeral procession for an active-duty
46 military service member without the payment of tolls.
47 (2) A Any person driving an automobile or other vehicle
48 belonging to the Department of Military Affairs used for
49 transporting military personnel, stores, and property, when
50 properly identified, shall, together with any such conveyance
51 and military personnel and property of the state in his or her
52 charge, be allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over
53 all toll bridges and ferries in this state.
54 (3) A Any handicapped person who has a valid driver
55 driver’s license, who operates a vehicle specially equipped for
56 use by the handicapped, and who is certified by a physician
57 licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 or by comparable
58 licensing in another state or by the Adjudication Office of the
59 United States Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor
60 as being severely physically disabled and having permanent upper
61 limb mobility or dexterity impairments that which substantially
62 impair the person’s ability to deposit coins in toll baskets,
63 shall be allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over all
64 toll bridges and ferries in this state. A person who meets the
65 requirements of this subsection shall, upon application, be
66 issued a vehicle window sticker by the Department of
67 Transportation.
68 (4) A person driving a public school bus or other school
69 district-owned vehicle on official district business shall be
70 allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over all toll
71 bridges and ferries in this state.
72 (5)(4) A copy of this section shall be posted at each toll
73 bridge and on each ferry.
74 (6)(5) The department of Transportation shall provide
75 envelopes for voluntary payments of tolls by those persons
76 exempted from the payment of tolls pursuant to this section. The
77 department shall accept any voluntary payments made by exempt
78 persons.
79 (7)(6) Personal identifying information provided to,
80 acquired by, or in the possession of the Department of
81 Transportation, a county, or an expressway authority for the
82 purpose of using a credit card, charge card, or check for the
83 prepayment of electronic toll facilities charges to the
84 department, a county, or an expressway authority is exempt from
85 s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
86 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.