| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to disabled parking permits; amending s. |
| 3 | 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 in |
| 6 | 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 for |
| 10 | a certain period of time upon a second finding of guilt or |
| 11 | plea of nolo contendere to unlawful use of such permit; |
| 12 | requiring the Department of Highway Safety and Motor |
| 13 | Vehicles to audit disabled parking permit holders, verify |
| 14 | certain information, and invalidate the permit of a |
| 15 | deceased permitholder; directing the department to |
| 16 | implement a means for reporting abuse of disabled parking |
| 17 | permits; providing for the department to conduct a public |
| 18 | awareness campaign; providing an effective date. |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 21 |
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| 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 will be waived if a person |
| 31 | provides to the law enforcement agency or parking enforcement |
| 32 | specialist or agency that issued the citation for such a |
| 33 | violation proof that the person committing the violation has a |
| 34 | valid parking permit or license plate issued pursuant to s. |
| 35 | 316.1958, s. 320.0842, s. 320.0843, s. 320.0845, or s. 320.0848 |
| 36 | or a signed affidavit that the owner of the disabled parking |
| 37 | permit or license plate was present at the time the violation |
| 38 | occurred, and that such a parking permit or license plate was |
| 39 | valid at the time the violation occurred. The law enforcement |
| 40 | officer or agency or the parking enforcement specialist or |
| 41 | agency, upon determining that all required documentation has |
| 42 | been submitted verifying that the required parking permit or |
| 43 | license plate was valid at the time of the violation, must sign |
| 44 | an affidavit of compliance. Upon provision of the affidavit of |
| 45 | compliance and payment of a dismissal fee of up to $7.50 to the |
| 46 | clerk of the circuit court, the clerk shall dismiss the |
| 47 | 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, subsections (9) and (10) are |
| 51 | renumbered as subsections (11) and (12), respectively, and new |
| 52 | 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, 2011 April 1, 1999, the |
| 59 | department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall renew the |
| 60 | disabled parking permit of any person certified as permanently |
| 61 | disabled on the application if the person applies for renewal in |
| 62 | person and provides a current certificate of disability pursuant |
| 63 | to this 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 appear in person, |
| 68 | submit an application on a form prescribed by the department, |
| 69 | and must pay a replacement fee in the amount of $1.00, to be |
| 70 | retained by the issuing agency. If the person submits with the |
| 71 | application a police report documenting that the permit was |
| 72 | stolen, there is no replacement fee. |
| 73 | (8) A law enforcement officer or a parking enforcement |
| 74 | specialist may confiscate the disabled parking permit from any |
| 75 | person who fraudulently obtains or unlawfully uses such a |
| 76 | permit. A law enforcement officer or a parking enforcement |
| 77 | specialist may confiscate any disabled parking permit that is |
| 78 | expired, reported as lost or stolen, or defaced, or that does |
| 79 | not display a personal identification number. |
| 80 | (a) Beginning April 1, 1999, The permit number of each |
| 81 | confiscated permit must be submitted to the department of |
| 82 | Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the fact that the permit |
| 83 | has been confiscated must be noted on the permitholder's record. |
| 84 | If two permits issued to the same person have been confiscated, |
| 85 | the department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall refer |
| 86 | the information to the central abuse hotline of the Department |
| 87 | of Children and Family Services for an investigation of |
| 88 | potential abuse, neglect, or exploitation of the permit owner. |
| 89 | (b) A confiscated permit must be held as evidence until a |
| 90 | judicial decision about the violation has been made. After a |
| 91 | finding of guilt has been made or a plea of nolo contendere has |
| 92 | been entered, the charging agency shall destroy the confiscated |
| 93 | permit. A confiscated permit may not, under any circumstances, |
| 94 | be returned to its registered owner after a finding of guilt has |
| 95 | been made or a plea of nolo contendere has been entered in |
| 96 | court. If a finding of guilt has been made or a plea of nolo |
| 97 | contendere has been entered for fraudulent or other unlawful use |
| 98 | of a disabled parking permit after a prior finding of guilt or |
| 99 | plea of nolo contendere for fraudulent or other unlawful use of |
| 100 | a disabled parking permit issued to the same registered permit |
| 101 | owner, the permit owner may not apply for a new disabled parking |
| 102 | permit for a period of 4 years. The permit number of each |
| 103 | destroyed permit must be reported to the department, and the |
| 104 | department must record in the real-time disabled parking permit |
| 105 | database that the permit has been invalidated. |
| 106 | (9)(a) At least once every 6 months, the department shall |
| 107 | randomly audit disabled parking permit holders to ensure that |
| 108 | all required criteria for the ownership and possession of such |
| 109 | permit are still valid. As a component of the audit, the |
| 110 | department shall, at a minimum: |
| 111 | 1. Review death records maintained by the Department of |
| 112 | Health to ensure that the permitholder has not died. |
| 113 | 2. Review the number of times the permit has been |
| 114 | confiscated for fraudulent or unlawful use, if at all. |
| 115 | 3. Determine if the permit has ever been reported lost or |
| 116 | stolen and, if so, determine the current status of the permit. |
| 117 | (b) At least annually, the department shall verify that |
| 118 | the owner of each disabled parking permit has not died. Such |
| 119 | verification shall include, but is not limited to, consultation |
| 120 | with death records maintained by the Department of Health. If a |
| 121 | disabled parking permit owner is found to be deceased, the |
| 122 | department shall promptly invalidate the decedent's disabled |
| 123 | parking permit. |
| 124 | (10) The department shall develop and implement a means by |
| 125 | which persons can report abuse of disabled parking permits by |
| 126 | telephone hotline or by submitting a form online or by mail. |
| 127 | Section 3. (1) The Department of Highway Safety and Motor |
| 128 | Vehicles shall make a public announcement and conduct a public |
| 129 | awareness campaign regarding the abuses of disabled parking |
| 130 | permits and the burdens such abuses inflict on disabled persons |
| 131 | throughout the state. The public awareness campaign shall also |
| 132 | inform the public about: |
| 133 | (a) The requirement to appear in person to renew an |
| 134 | expired disabled parking permit or replace a lost or stolen |
| 135 | disabled parking permit. |
| 136 | (b) The implementation of the new periodic disabled |
| 137 | parking permit audit system. |
| 138 | (c) The implementation of the new complaint process for |
| 139 | reporting abuses of disabled parking permits. |
| 140 | (2) The public awareness campaign shall commence within 30 |
| 141 | days after the effective date of this act and shall continue for |
| 142 | not less than 6 months. |
| 143 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |