The immobilization or removal, impoundment, and disposal of motor vehicles for multiple nonmoving traffic violations

This bill creates an alternative method for the enforcement of multiple parking violations. The bill allows a municipality or county to enact an ordinance providing for the immobilization with an immobilization device (typically a "car boot") or towing, impoundment, and disposal of vehicles owned by habitual parking violators.

The ordinance must be limited to those vehicles for which all of the following apply:

1. The municipality or county has issued tickets to the owner of the motor vehicle for three or more parking violations that, at the time of the vehicle's immobilization or towing, occurred more than 28 days previously and for which the owner has neither paid each ticket nor scheduled an appearance in court in response to each unpaid ticket.

2. The municipality or county has mailed to the last-known address of the owner at least one notice that provides, for each parking ticket, certain information, including the manner in which each parking ticket may be paid or contested. The notice must also inform the owner that the owner's vehicles may be immobilized or towed and impounded if, within 28 days after the owner has received three or more citations and at the time the vehicle is immobilized or towed, the owner has not either paid the ticket for each violation that occurred more than 28 days previously or scheduled an appearance in court in response to each unpaid ticket issued more than 28 days previously. The notice may be combined with any other notice provided by the municipality or county to the vehicle owner.

The ordinance authorizes any parking enforcer to have a vehicle to which the ordinance applies immobilized on, or towed and impounded from, or both, any portion of a street, highway, or publicly owned or leased parking facility, regardless of whether the vehicle is legally or illegally parked. Upon immobilization or towing of the vehicle, the parking enforcer must follow certain procedures for notification of law enforcement and the vehicle owner, which are the same procedures applicable to immobilization or towing of an unregistered vehicle. The ordinance must require that, if the vehicle is immobilized, the parking enforcer, or a third-party contractor performing immobilization services, place in a highly visible location on the vehicle a written notice that warns the driver that the immobilization device has been placed on the vehicle, that either provides specified information related to the applicable unpaid parking tickets or provides a telephone number through which this information is available 24 hours a day, and that states the amount of any fee for removal of the immobilization device. The bill includes restrictions on the issuance of parking tickets for the vehicle after it is immobilized if it is immobilized in a time-limited, legal parking space.

Under the bill, the owner of a motor vehicle that is immobilized or towed and impounded may secure release of the motor vehicle by paying any fee for the removal of the immobilization device or any charges associated with the towing and impounding of the vehicle, respectively, and paying all forfeitures for the unpaid parking tickets outstanding more than 28 days or scheduling an appearance in court in response to these unpaid parking tickets, or a combination of making the payments or scheduling the appearances. The bill also provides a procedure guiding the impoundment and, if the requirements for release of the vehicle are not timely satisfied, disposal of vehicles that are towed and impounded, which procedures are the same as those applicable to the towing and impoundment of unregistered vehicles. Any motor vehicle immobilized or impounded must remain immobilized or impounded until lawfully claimed or disposed of. The owner of any motor vehicle immobilized or towed and impounded is responsible for all charges associated with immobilizing, removing, impounding, and disposing of the motor vehicle. Charges not recovered from the sale of the motor vehicle may be recovered in a civil action by the municipality or county against the owner.