Florida Senate - 2016                                    SB 1552
       
       
        
       By Senator Altman
       
       16-01155-16                                           20161552__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to tolls; amending s. 338.155, F.S.;
    3         requiring a toll facility to ensure the presence of
    4         signage notifying drivers if cash payment is not an
    5         option; creating s. 338.163, F.S.; authorizing a
    6         rental car company to charge a renter an amount in
    7         addition to the toll charge incurred by the renter
    8         under certain circumstances; providing limitations to
    9         the additional charge; providing an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Section 338.155, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   14  read:
   15         338.155 Payment of toll on toll facilities required;
   16  exemptions; signage required.—
   17         (1) A person may not use any toll facility without payment
   18  of tolls, except employees of the agency operating the toll
   19  project when using the toll facility on official state business,
   20  state military personnel while on official military business,
   21  handicapped persons as provided in this section, persons exempt
   22  from toll payment by the authorizing resolution for bonds issued
   23  to finance the facility, and persons exempt on a temporary basis
   24  where use of such toll facility is required as a detour route.
   25  Any law enforcement officer operating a marked official vehicle
   26  is exempt from toll payment when on official law enforcement
   27  business. 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. 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 or
   32  the secretary’s designee may suspend the payment of tolls on a
   33  toll facility when necessary to assist in emergency evacuation.
   34  The failure to pay a prescribed toll constitutes a noncriminal
   35  traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided
   36  in s. 318.18. The department may adopt rules relating to the
   37  payment, collection, and enforcement of tolls, as authorized in
   38  this chapter and chapters 316, 318, 320, and 322, including, but
   39  not limited to, rules for the implementation of video or other
   40  image billing and variable pricing. With respect to toll
   41  facilities managed by the department, the revenues of which are
   42  not pledged to repayment of bonds, the department may by rule
   43  allow the use of such facilities by public transit vehicles or
   44  by vehicles participating in a funeral procession for an active
   45  duty military service member without the payment of tolls.
   46         (2) Any person driving an automobile or other vehicle
   47  belonging to the Department of Military Affairs used for
   48  transporting military personnel, stores, and property, when
   49  properly identified, shall, together with any such conveyance
   50  and military personnel and property of the state in his or her
   51  charge, be allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over
   52  all toll bridges and ferries in this state.
   53         (3) Any handicapped person who has a valid driver license,
   54  who operates a vehicle specially equipped for use by the
   55  handicapped, and who is certified by a physician licensed under
   56  chapter 458 or chapter 459 or by comparable licensing in another
   57  state or by the Adjudication Office of the United States
   58  Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor as being
   59  severely physically disabled and having permanent upper limb
   60  mobility or dexterity impairments which substantially impair the
   61  person’s ability to deposit coins in toll baskets, shall be
   62  allowed to pass free through all tollgates and over all toll
   63  bridges and ferries in this state. A person who meets the
   64  requirements of this subsection shall, upon application, be
   65  issued a vehicle window sticker by the Department of
   66  Transportation.
   67         (4) A copy of this section shall be posted at each toll
   68  bridge and on each ferry.
   69         (5) The Department of Transportation shall provide
   70  envelopes for voluntary payments of tolls by those persons
   71  exempted from the payment of tolls pursuant to this section. The
   72  department shall accept any voluntary payments made by exempt
   73  persons.
   74         (6) Personal identifying information held by the Department
   75  of Transportation, a county, a municipality, or an expressway
   76  authority for the purpose of paying, prepaying, or collecting
   77  tolls and associated administrative charges due for the use of
   78  toll facilities is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I
   79  of the State Constitution. This exemption applies to such
   80  information held by the Department of Transportation, a county,
   81  a municipality, or an expressway authority before, on, or after
   82  the effective date of the exemption. This subsection is subject
   83  to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance with s.
   84  119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2019, unless
   85  reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
   86  Legislature.
   87         (7) A toll facility must ensure the presence of signage
   88  notifying drivers if cash payment of the applicable toll at such
   89  facility is not an available option.
   90         Section 2. Section 338.163, Florida Statutes, is created to
   91  read:
   92         338.163 Rental car companies; charges for tolls.—A rental
   93  car company may charge a renter up to $10 in addition to the
   94  toll charge incurred by the renter while using an electronic
   95  toll collection system and driving a rental car equipped with a
   96  transponder or similar electronic tolling device that is
   97  provided by the rental car company. The rental car company may
   98  not assess the additional charge more than once per day and may
   99  only assess the charge on a day that a toll is incurred.
  100         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.