Florida Senate - 2016                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1392
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì227864FÎ227864                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  01/27/2016           .                                
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       The Committee on Transportation (Brandes) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 226 and 227
    4  insert:
    5         Section 8. Section 338.155, Florida Statutes, is amended to
    6  read:
    7         338.155 Payment of toll on toll facilities required;
    8  exemptions; signage required.—
    9         (1) A person may not use any toll facility without payment
   10  of tolls, except employees of the agency operating the toll
   11  project when using the toll facility on official state business,
   12  state military personnel while on official military business,
   13  handicapped persons as provided in this section, persons exempt
   14  from toll payment by the authorizing resolution for bonds issued
   15  to finance the facility, and persons exempt on a temporary basis
   16  where use of such toll facility is required as a detour route.
   17  Any law enforcement officer operating a marked official vehicle
   18  is exempt from toll payment when on official law enforcement
   19  business. Any person operating a fire vehicle when on official
   20  business or a rescue vehicle when on official business is exempt
   21  from toll payment. Any person participating in the funeral
   22  procession of a law enforcement officer or firefighter killed in
   23  the line of duty is exempt from toll payment. The secretary or
   24  the secretary’s designee may suspend the payment of tolls on a
   25  toll facility when necessary to assist in emergency evacuation.
   26  The failure to pay a prescribed toll constitutes a noncriminal
   27  traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided
   28  in s. 318.18. The department may adopt rules relating to the
   29  payment, collection, and enforcement of tolls, as authorized in
   30  this chapter and chapters 316, 318, 320, and 322, including, but
   31  not limited to, rules for the implementation of video or other
   32  image billing and variable pricing. With respect to toll
   33  facilities managed by the department, the revenues of which are
   34  not pledged to repayment of bonds, the department may by rule
   35  allow the use of such facilities by public transit vehicles or
   36  by vehicles participating in a funeral procession for an active
   37  duty military service member without the payment of tolls.
   38         (2) Any person driving an automobile or other vehicle
   39  belonging to the Department of Military Affairs used for
   40  transporting military personnel, stores, and property, when
   41  properly identified, shall, together with any such conveyance
   42  and military personnel and property of the state in his or her
   43  charge, be allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over
   44  all toll bridges and ferries in this state.
   45         (3) Any handicapped person who has a valid driver license,
   46  who operates a vehicle specially equipped for use by the
   47  handicapped, and who is certified by a physician licensed under
   48  chapter 458 or chapter 459 or by comparable licensing in another
   49  state or by the Adjudication Office of the United States
   50  Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor as being
   51  severely physically disabled and having permanent upper limb
   52  mobility or dexterity impairments which substantially impair the
   53  person’s ability to deposit coins in toll baskets, shall be
   54  allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over all toll
   55  bridges and ferries in this state. A person who meets the
   56  requirements of this subsection shall, upon application, be
   57  issued a vehicle window sticker by the Department of
   58  Transportation.
   59         (4) A copy of this section shall be posted at each toll
   60  bridge and on each ferry.
   61         (5) The Department of Transportation shall provide
   62  envelopes for voluntary payments of tolls by those persons
   63  exempted from the payment of tolls pursuant to this section. The
   64  department shall accept any voluntary payments made by exempt
   65  persons.
   66         (6) Personal identifying information held by the Department
   67  of Transportation, a county, a municipality, or an expressway
   68  authority for the purpose of paying, prepaying, or collecting
   69  tolls and associated administrative charges due for the use of
   70  toll facilities is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I
   71  of the State Constitution. This exemption applies to such
   72  information held by the Department of Transportation, a county,
   73  a municipality, or an expressway authority before, on, or after
   74  the effective date of the exemption. This subsection is subject
   75  to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance with s.
   76  119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2019, unless
   77  reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
   78  Legislature.
   79         (7) A toll facility must ensure the presence of signage
   80  notifying drivers if cash payment of the applicable toll at such
   81  facility is not an available option.
   82         
   83  
   84  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   85  And the title is amended as follows:
   86         Between lines 30 and 31
   87  insert:
   88         amending s. 338.155, F.S.; requiring a toll facility
   89         to ensure the presence of signage notifying drivers if
   90         cash payment is not an option;