Bills · 2013-2014 Regular Session
Relating to: signs reserving parking spaces for persons with physical disabilities.
Employment Motor vehicle — Parking Public building Transportation, department of — Vehicles
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, a person with a disability that limits or impairs the ability
to walk may apply for and obtain from the Department of Transportation (DOT)
special motor vehicle registration plates (disabled plates) or a special identification
card (disabled parking card) that affords certain parking privileges, including
parking in spaces reserved for use by persons with physical disabilities (disabled
parking spaces). It is a violation for a person to park a motor vehicle that does not
display disabled plates or a disabled parking card in a disabled parking space.
Current law also requires the owner or lessee of a public building or place of
employment, and the owner or lessee of a parking facility that offers parking to the
public, to reserve a minimum number of disabled parking spaces if the parking area
has at least 26 spaces. If the parking area is not open to the public or has fewer than
26 spaces, the owner or lessee may voluntarily reserve disabled parking spaces. For
all reserved disabled parking spaces, the owner or lessee must post official traffic
signs (disabled parking signs). Each sign must include the "international symbol for
barrier-free environments" (wheelchair symbol) and a statement to inform the
public that the parking space is reserved for vehicles used by persons with physical
disabilities. DOT must promulgate rules governing the design, size, and installation
of the disabled parking signs required for these reserved parking spaces.
This bill eliminates DOT's authority to promulgate rules, or otherwise impose
requirements that are additional to those specified by statute, relating to the design,
size, and installation of disabled parking signs for these reserved parking spaces.
Instead, the bill requires that these signs be at least 25 square inches in area, include
the wheelchair symbol, and, if the sign is posted for a van-accessible disabled
parking space, include an additional sign mounted below the wheelchair symbol that
displays the words "van accessible." The bill eliminates the requirement that these
signs include a statement to inform the public that the parking space is reserved for
vehicles used by persons with physical disabilities. The bill does not apply to
disabled parking signs posted by DOT or local authorities on highways or other
parking facilities.