Bill Text: FL S0094 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Disabled Parking Permits

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2013-05-03 - Died in Appropriations [S0094 Detail]

Download: Florida-2013-S0094-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2013                                      SB 94
       
       
       
       By Senator Joyner
       
       
       
       
       19-00163A-13                                            201394__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to disabled parking permits and
    3         license plates; amending s. 320.0843, F.S.; requiring
    4         the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to
    5         automatically renew and issue a license plate stamped
    6         with the international wheelchair user symbol to
    7         persons who have certain disabilities; amending s.
    8         320.0848, F.S.; requiring the Department of Highway
    9         Safety and Motor Vehicles to automatically renew and
   10         issue a disabled parking permit to persons who have
   11         certain disabilities; amending s. 316.1955, F.S.;
   12         deleting a cross-reference to conform; providing an
   13         effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 320.0843, Florida Statutes, is amended
   18  to read:
   19         320.0843 License plates for persons with disabilities
   20  eligible for long-term permanent disabled parking permits.—
   21         (1) Any owner or lessee of a motor vehicle who resides in
   22  this state and qualifies for a long-term disabled parking permit
   23  under s. 320.0848(2), upon application to the department and
   24  payment of the license tax for a motor vehicle registered under
   25  s. 320.08(2), (3)(a), (b), (c), or (e), (4)(a) or (b), (6)(a),
   26  or (9)(c) or (d), shall be issued a license plate as provided by
   27  s. 320.06 which, in lieu of the serial number prescribed by s.
   28  320.06, shall be stamped with the international wheelchair user
   29  symbol after the serial number of the license plate. The license
   30  plate entitles the person to all privileges afforded by a
   31  parking permit issued under s. 320.0848. When more than one
   32  registrant is listed on the registration issued under this
   33  section, the eligible applicant shall be noted on the
   34  registration certificate.
   35         (2) If a health care practitioner identified in s.
   36  320.0848(1)(b) certifies that the person’s mobility impairment
   37  is severe and irreversible, the department shall automatically
   38  renew and issue the license plate every 10 years at no
   39  additional cost to that person All applications for such license
   40  plates must be made to the department.
   41         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 320.0848, Florida
   42  Statutes, is amended to read:
   43         320.0848 Persons who have disabilities; issuance of
   44  disabled parking permits; temporary permits; permits for certain
   45  providers of transportation services to persons who have
   46  disabilities.—
   47         (1)(a) The department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
   48  or its authorized agents shall, upon application and receipt of
   49  the fee, issue a disabled parking permit for a period of up to 4
   50  years, which period ends on the applicant’s birthday, to any
   51  person who has long-term mobility impairment, or a temporary
   52  disabled parking permit not to exceed 6 months to any person who
   53  has a temporary mobility impairment. A person may not No person
   54  will be required to pay a fee for a parking permit for disabled
   55  persons more than once in a 12-month period from the date of the
   56  prior fee payment.
   57         (a) If a health care practitioner identified in
   58  subparagraph (b)2. certifies that a person’s mobility impairment
   59  is severe and irreversible, the department shall automatically
   60  renew and issue the disabled parking permit every 4 years at no
   61  additional cost to that person.
   62         (b)1. The person must be currently certified as being
   63  legally blind or as having any of the following disabilities
   64  that render him or her unable to walk 200 feet without stopping
   65  to rest:
   66         a. Inability to walk without the use of or assistance from
   67  a brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, or other assistive
   68  device, or without the assistance of another person. If the
   69  assistive device significantly restores the person’s ability to
   70  walk to the extent that the person can walk without severe
   71  limitation, the person is not eligible for the exemption parking
   72  permit.
   73         b. The need to permanently use a wheelchair.
   74         c. Restriction by lung disease to the extent that the
   75  person’s forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for 1 second,
   76  when measured by spirometry, is less than 1 liter, or the
   77  person’s arterial oxygen is less than 60 mm/hg on room air at
   78  rest.
   79         d. Use of portable oxygen.
   80         e. Restriction by cardiac condition to the extent that the
   81  person’s functional limitations are classified in severity as
   82  Class III or Class IV according to standards set by the American
   83  Heart Association.
   84         f. Severe limitation in the person’s ability to walk due to
   85  an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition.
   86         2. The certification of disability which is required under
   87  subparagraph 1. must be provided by a physician licensed under
   88  chapter 458, chapter 459, or chapter 460, by a podiatric
   89  physician licensed under chapter 461, by an optometrist licensed
   90  under chapter 463, by an advanced registered nurse practitioner
   91  licensed under chapter 464 under the protocol of a licensed
   92  physician as stated in this subparagraph, by a physician
   93  assistant licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459, or by a
   94  similarly licensed physician from another state if the
   95  application is accompanied by documentation of the physician’s
   96  licensure in the other state and a form signed by the out-of
   97  state physician verifying his or her knowledge of this state’s
   98  eligibility guidelines.
   99         (c) The certificate of disability must include, but need
  100  not be limited to:
  101         1. The disability of the applicant; the certifying
  102  practitioner’s name and address; the practitioner’s
  103  certification number; the eligibility criteria for the permit;
  104  the penalty for falsification by either the certifying
  105  practitioner or the applicant; the duration of the condition
  106  that entitles the person to the permit; and justification for
  107  the additional placard pursuant to subsection (2).
  108         2. The statement, in bold letters: “A disabled parking
  109  permit may be issued only for a medical necessity that severely
  110  affects mobility.”
  111         3. The signatures of:
  112         a. The applicant’s physician or other certifying
  113  practitioner.
  114         b. The applicant or the applicant’s parent or guardian.
  115         c. The employee of the department’s authorized agent which
  116  employee is processing the application.
  117         (d) Beginning October 1, 2012, the department shall renew
  118  the disabled parking permit of any person certified as
  119  permanently disabled on the application if the person provides a
  120  certificate of disability issued within the last 12 months
  121  pursuant to this subsection.
  122         (e) The department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
  123  shall, in consultation with the Commission for the
  124  Transportation Disadvantaged, adopt rules, in accordance with
  125  chapter 120, for the issuance of a disabled parking permit to
  126  any organization that can adequately demonstrate a bona fide
  127  need for such a permit because the organization provides regular
  128  transportation services to persons who have disabilities and are
  129  certified as provided in this subsection.
  130         Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
  131  316.1955, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  132         316.1955 Enforcement of parking requirements for persons
  133  who have disabilities.—
  134         (4)(a) A vehicle that is transporting a person who has a
  135  disability and that has been granted a permit under s.
  136  320.0848(1)(a) may be parked for a maximum of 30 minutes in any
  137  parking space reserved for persons who have disabilities.
  138         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.