SB 206-DISABLED PARKING AND REGISTRATION PLATES    SENATOR DONLEY, sponsor SB 206, explained it was the result of three years of work. Around the country there had been several initiatives to improve on the current system states use for disabled parking permits. He had personal friends who are seriously disabled and they had over the years expressed their dismay when they try to find a place to park and there are other people in those spots that are not disabled but have permits. He had done research and found several things that could be reformed in Alaska. Three years ago he started the process of reaching out to the various groups around the state that represent the people that would use disabled license plates and solicited their comments annually. Based on those comments and a meeting held with Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) experts in that area, members of the public and his staff, they suggested the existing laws needed to be reformed. That is where SB 206 came from. SENATOR DONLEY said SB 206 would beef up the penalty for someone who illegally parks in a handicapped/disabled parking spot. It would also for the first time have a separate penalty for someone who misused a permit. SEANTOR DONLEY described a time he caught someone misusing a permit. Because he had been so interested in this issue he had been watching and when walking back to the Legislative Information Office in Anchorage he noticed an individual parked in the disabled parking spot in front of the Federal Building. He had a temporary Handicap Permit and jumped out of the car and ran into the Forth Avenue Theater. He followed the young man and found he was working there. He approached him and told him he didn't understand, he was parked in a handicapped spot but did not look disabled in any way. The man answered that he was not disabled it was his friend's permit. Senator Donley asked why he felt justified in using that space. He answered because he had a permit. Senator Donley told him the permit was not his. He said, yea, but his friend loaned it to him. Senator Donley said that was not going to cut it and gave him the choice to move the car or he would call the parking enforcement people and tell them what he was doing. He chose to move his car. Senator Donley said if as an individual walking down the street he can observe this kind of behavior it certainly did indicate that something is going on out there. He said he understood those in the disabled community severely resent that kind of behavior. This bill would, for the first time, clarify that people who are not truly disabled should not be using disabled permits. Just because they have a permit did not make it right for them to use a disabled spot. This would tighten up the law and say to use a disabled permit you need to have a disabled person with you in the automobile that is actually going to be getting in and out of the automobile. SENATOR DONLEY explained another excuse they encountered was people saying their friend had a disabled permit and they were going to the store for them. In that case they should use a regular parking spot. Just because they are serving a function for somebody who could use disabled parking it did not give them authority to use a disabled parking space. This bill would adopt a new separate penalty for misusing a permit and it would be a higher penalty because that was a more serious abuse than just parking without a permit. He said in working with DMV good progress had been made so some of the elements of the original bill were not necessary. DMV had been very good to work with and very supportive in the matter. When somebody is issued a drivers license it will now have a code indicating if they are eligible to use a disabled parking permit. Police can identify whether that specific person is entitled to use the permit. There are a lot of people who are legally disabled who do not always look like they might be disabled. This enforcement challenge was addressed with the cooperation of DMV people who had also been helpful in developing the legislation. SENATOR DONLEY said this gave the committee an idea of what was in the proposed CS. It was to toughen up and clarify the law. It wasn't intended for people to use permits who are not truly disabled. He wanted to insure those parking spots are reserved for people who actually really need those spots. SENATOR WARD moved to adopt the CS for SB 206. There being no objection, the CS was adopted. SENATOR WARD asked how many violations there are for handicapped permits. SENATOR DONLEY said he did not know because they are not coded. He could probably get the number of tickets written but the question becomes how many are the misuse of a permit verses how many are people without a permit parked in the spots because they are all treated the same. SENATOR WARD asked why he did not propose in the adopted CS to go directly to a $250 fine and four points instead of a tiered approach. SENATOR DONLEY thought there was the circumstance where somebody could actually park one foot over the line. He was willing to give everybody the benefit of the doubt the first time it happened but the second time there was a much stronger case of intentional abuse. They ought to take it more seriously when somebody intentionally misuses a permit verses somebody who negligently or illegally parks. There is more of an element of fraud when somebody is sophisticated enough to actually misuse somebody else's permit. SENATOR WARD said first of all they passed laws and took away parking spaces and designated them for disabled parking. He asked if somebody was to drive someone disabled to a place that had a disabled parking spot then they would be eligible to sit there in the vehicle while they went in and did shopping. SENATOR DONLEY said the way the bill is drafted the permit is usable by somebody who gets in and out of the car. The whole purpose of having the permit is because you are going someplace. If the person getting in and out of the vehicle is not the disabled person they should not be using the permit. That was how they tried to narrow down the definition. SENATOR WARD said his question was if somebody is chauffeuring somebody around that has a permit, under this law is it completely OK for him or her to park in the handicapped parking. SENATOR DONLEY said not if the disabled person is not the person getting in and out of the vehicle. SENATOR WARD said he disagreed with that. He had taken his mother to Carrs grocery store many times. He drives the car and she makes him park right by the front door even though he is fully capable of moving it into the general parking in the lot. But whenever she comes out she wants the car right there because she is out of breath. SENATOR DONLEY said it would cover that circumstance because she had gotten out of the car and gone in shopping. SENATOR WARD asked even if she is not the driver, he is the driver. SENATOR DONLEY said it is OK if the disabled person is actually getting in and out of the car. SENATOR TAYLOR said what would not work is if his mother stayed in the car. SENATOR WARD said he could park anywhere but she wants to go herself and this is something that he does twice a week. She wants to park right by the door and go in and do her own shopping. He sits there as a healthy person and it always makes him feel a little funny too because it seems like everybody is looking at him. SENATOR DONLEY said he had the same situation with his dad. His dad had a disabled permit and sometimes he would drive him but his dad would always get out of the car when they used the permit. The purpose of the disabled permit is for the disabled person to have easier access. It is defined in the bill if the disabled person is getting in and out of the vehicle that is fine. SENATOR TAYLOR asked what Senator Donley was doing on the temporary permits and how do they eradicate those over time. They are made out of good heavy plastic and last a long time. These permits are for people who get injured, for example a broken leg and have to be on crutches. They really are disabled and have a hard time getting around. It is appropriate they have the permit while they are healing but within six months or so they are done with their rehabilitation and still have the permit hanging off of the rearview mirror. DON BRANDON, Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator (ADA), Department of Labor, said the temporary permits are dated and are different colors. The blue ones have a life of about three years and the red ones have a life of anywhere from a month to no more than ninety days. Enforcement officials can look and see the date and see if it is being abused. He said it is made out of plastic but intended to last for a short period of time. SENATOR TAYLOR said part of his concern was the discretion exercised by officers in the field. He related a circumstance where he was using his car to transport people home from a banquet where there had been considerable drinking going on and he did not want anybody driving home. He pulled into the police parking lot at 2:30 AM where there were six handicapped parking spaces covered with snow and apparently he pulled into one of those. He did not expect a big flood of handicapped people showing up at the police department at 2:30 in the morning but he got a $100 ticket. He said he would hate to think that all of a sudden they would be hitting people with $250 fines and eight hours of community service and four points on their drivers license because some parking fairy decided they are six inches over a line. He was concerned about that aspect of the bill. SENATOR DONLEY said that was why this bill did not do that. This proposal only invokes the $250 fine when somebody is actually misusing a permit. He thought there was a whole other level of culpability there. SENATOR WARD asked how many citations had been issued in the last year. MR. BRANDON said the information could be gathered. He said the question was a good one and if Senator Ward drove around with him he could show him two or three violations a day but they don't all get tickets. It is a real prevalent issue because a lot of people are using the mentality that Senator Taylor was talking about, where I am only going to be here a second. Often times that 10 or 20 minutes they are parked there is the time when he drives by and needs the accessible parking place and it is not available. SENATOR WARD said he had seen it right in the State Capital Building parking lot every other day. He did not see a license plate or the temporary permit but people are parking in that handicapped space. He asked how many people had been charged with it. MR. BRANDON said DMV had a list of how many fines they have put out so that information could be gathered. SENATOR ELTON said he thought they should throw the book at them. He thought one of the most egregious examples of abuse was from a report about a year ago where seven or eight members of a college football team, including the star quarterback, had gotten a hold of these permits and were using them. He thought a $250 fine was not nearly enough. JAY. C. BUSH, Planner, Gov. Council on Disabilities and Special Education, said at the request of the council he was testifying in support of SB 206 and appreciated Senator Donley bringing it forward. JIM BRADY, Kenai Peninsula Independent Living Center, said there was a lack of language that specifically required a qualified permit holder to be getting out of the vehicle when using a designated accessible space. He said there had been comment that the bill did address that but he could not find that in the bill. He said validly permitted individuals are dropping able-bodied companions off in accessible spaces. The accessible space should be for the use of individuals with disabilities who are exiting their vehicle and the language in the bill should be clear. He said there was also a need for clear prohibition of parking in access isles adjacent to designated accessible parking space. The access isles are necessary for the use of the parking space. He witnessed on at least a weekly basis people, who because the accessible space is occupied, park in the access isle because they think that a valid parking permit allows them to do so. The same penalty should apply to parking in an access isle as applies to illegally parking in the accessible space. The penalty should be assessed regardless of whether the vehicle or the operator has a valid permit. SENATOR DONLEY said Mr. Brady's first comment was one of the comments they had previously received. The witness probably not had a chance to see the CS where on page 4, lines 11 and 12 it specifically references actually exiting or entering the vehicle. He said he did not remember getting the second comment earlier so had not examined the access isles. SENATOR WARD said his understanding was the access isles are considered a part of the handicapped parking so it did not need to be clarified because it is a part of the space. MR. BRADY said there is a validly parked vehicle in the accessible space and someone else comes with an accessible plate or permit and parks in the access isle, which makes the parking space completely unusable. The access isle is designed so an individual in a wheel chair or using a walker can get in and out of the vehicle. If the access isle is blocked by a car, whether or not it has a valid permit, it makes the space unusable. SENATOR WARD asked if he was saying in wintertime they do not see the stripping, it is covered up and they are parking as if the van access isn't there. They think it is just another parking spot. MR. BRADY said it doesn't have to be in the wintertime, he sees it in the summertime. People park there because they think they have a right to park in the access space. A lot of people consider the access isle as part of the parking space. SENATOR TAYLOR clarified it was two people with handicapped parking permits, one of them parking legally, the other one parking in the walkway. MR. BRANDON said Mr. Brady is exactly right. Two people are qualified to use the accessible space and one is using it errantly. Part of the reason for that is the need to define what an accessible parking place looks like for Alaska. He said maybe it is something that can be addressed in regulation if they cannot get it in the bill. The ADA, is the federal law that requires accessible parking in public areas. It says the only thing that designates the space is the sign that is viewable over a vehicle parked in the space. It gives certain dimensions that are required but the blue lines and blue bumpers and curbs are not a requirement. He thought either in regulation or in the law itself giving a clear definition of what the accessible space is would help. MR. BRANDON explained sometimes people who are newly injured are not using accessible parking correctly or it is not signed appropriately. He gave an example where a van accessible space looks to the common driver like two spots. One space is painted blue with the access space beside it. Fred Meyers painted all 16 feet of their curb blue but did not demarcate it with lines. They hava one sign up because it is supposed to be one van accessible space. Someone parks in the accessible spot and someone that is not disabled parks right beside it in the access isle not knowing what it is there for. MR. BRANDON said they do not have consistency for demarcating what accessible parking spaces should look like throughout the state. Some people think putting up the sign in a standard parking place with no access isle is appropriate. He sees that error a lot from parking owners that put the signs up wrongly. He said some definition of what an accessible parking space for the State of Alaska should look like should be included in the regulation. They are not clearly marked and consistent. SENATOR ELTON said that could be handled in regulation. The statutes govern handicapped parking and he thought it would be appropriate for DMV to address the different styles of handicap parking including signage in regulation. FRANK DILLION, speaking as an Anchorage citizen, wanted to voice his support for SB 206. He saw handicapped spaces commonly misused and felt increasing the penalty might help solve this problem so the people who need those spaces could use them. He suggested the access spaces could perhaps be posted no parking period. SENATOR TAYLOR thanked the sponsor and moved CSSB 206 (TRA) from committee with individual recommendations. There being no objection the motion carried.