California bill to crack down on disabled parking abuse

California State Senator Jerry Hill wants to stop abuse of disabled placards and plates. ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO – State Senator Jerry Hill is introducing legislation to help the Department of Motor Vehicles curb abuses of disabled placards and license plates.

The placards and plates allow motorists to use parking spots reserved for disabled drivers and lets them park in time-limited slots indefinitely. Holders of disabled placards and license plates can also park in metered spots without paying.

“Taking unfair advantage of our state’s disabled placard program is an act of fraud,” said Senator Hill, D-San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. “My legislation will help the DMV tighten its oversight by setting new accountability requirements for the disabled placard and license plate program.”

There has long been reports of abuse of the disabled placard program. An April 2017 report published by the California State Auditor was the first to quantify the problem. The audit found that:

• The DMV does not appropriately cancel placards of people who die. An estimated 35,000 placards in use are tied to individuals who have died. In addition, DMV records indicate that more than 26,000 people older than 100 have the placards, but only 8,000 of them are known to live in the state.
• The DMV does not limit the number of replacement placards a person may receive, and

placards are automatically renewed every two years, making it easy for a person to get multiple placards. The State Auditor identified two people who received 20 replacement placards in a span of just three years.

• The DMV does not take adequate steps to make sure applications are legitimate, such as regularly auditing applications to ensure that a driver’s disability is thoroughly described and that the medical provider’s signature is authentic. For example, 73 percent of applications reviewed by the State Auditor did not provide sufficient details about applicants’ disabilities. Doctors’ signatures are not verified, and the medical providers’ eligibility to certify disabilities aren’t checked either. Eighteen percent of the applications reviewed by the State Auditor had questionable signatures, potentially calling into question more than 260,000 applications in a three-year period.
• When the DMV conducts sting operations, it generally finds that 15 percent of the placards examined are not being used legitimately.

The State Auditor made several recommendations that the DMV has agreed with and says it is implementing. The auditor’s report recommended that the Legislature tighten oversight of the department and its program for disabled driver placards and plates.

Senator Hill’s bill will implement those recommendations by

• Requiring the DMV to conduct quarterly audits of applications and work with state health boards in analyzing the applications to ensure that information from medical providers is complete and the individuals providing it are authorized to do so.
• Require the DMV to use the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File to cancel placards whose permit holders have died.
• Require all permanent placard holders to reapply every four years.
• Require applicants to provide proof of their name and date of birth, such as a driver’s license or birth certificate.
• Limit the number of replacement placards that can be obtained within a two- year period to two placards. If more replacements are needed, placard holders would need to reapply for a permit.
• Add podiatrists to the list of medical providers able to certify applications related to disabilities of the foot or ankle.

“These changes to state law, along with program changes made by the DMV, will go a long way toward reducing fraud and abuse of the DMV’s placard program,” Hill said. “We must make sure the drivers who need this important program have access to the benefits it provides – and block scofflaws and fraudsters from gaming the system.”

This month the bill will be amended into what is currently Senate Bill 611, which will retain its existing provisions as a technical follow-up to Hill’s SB 1046, the bill that extended and expanded California’s pilot program requiring DUI offenders s to install ignition interlock devices. Governor Brown signed SB 1046 into law last year.