LEGISLATIVE REPORT: MUCH NEEDED HELP FOR THE DISABLED

The Legislature passed legislation this year making changes to laws relating to disabled license plates and placards. I have received several comments concerning abuse of handicap parking. Hopefully, the new legislation will help curb the misuse of handicap parking. These bills were recently signed by the Governor and will take effect on August 28, 1998.

Last year, legislation was enacted which required the Department of Revenue to check with the State Board of Healing Arts to verify that the physician or osteopath who authorizes that a person is disabled is a licensed physician. The purpose of this requirement is to prevent someone from fraudulently obtaining a disabled plate or placard. Inadvertently, chiropractors and podiatrists were excluded from this bill because they are not licensed by the State Board of Healing Arts. These providers are licensed by separate boards. Under these new bills, chiropractors and podiatrists will now be able to issue statements for people to obtain disabled plates or placards from the Department of Revenue. The Department verifies, via computer, that the provider is licensed while you wait.

The Department of Revenue issues to physically disabled persons, special license plates and placards or hang-tags for a vehicle's windshield. To qualify for license plates a person must be permanently disabled as determined by a physician, osteopath, chiropractor, or podiatrist. A permanent disability is defined as a person who is blind, unable to walk 50 feet without stopping to rest, unable to walk with a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device. To get these license plates, the vehicle must be used at least 50 percent of the time by the disabled person. There is no additional charge for these plates unless the person chooses to get personalized plates in which chase there is an additional $15 charge. This $15 charge is standard for all personalized license plates.

In addition to license plates, a disabled person can also pay an additional $2 and receive a placard which they can carry with them to use in case they are driven somewhere with a friend or relative who does not have disabled license plates on their vehicle. This placard allows the driver to park in designated disabled parking spaces as long as the disabled person is with them. The penalty for illegally parking in a designated space for the disabled is a minimum fine of $50 and a maximum of $300.

The Department of Revenue also issues temporary placards to persons who have temporary disabilities as certified by their health care provider. These temporary placards are issued for six months, cost $2, and can be renewed one-time for an additional six months if the person's disability lasts longer than originally anticipated. The extension requires a new statement from the provider. After the one year maximum period the person must return the placard to the Department of Revenue and if they are still disabled they must obtain permanent disabled license plates.

ALL disabled license plates and placards are required to be renewed in September of each year. This year, the Department is required to conduct a one-time recertification process of all disabled license plates and placards beginning September 1, 1998. This means that a new physician's statement certifying a person's disability will be required this September for renewal. The Department will be sending notices of this requirement along with the notice of license plate renewal. Although this may cause an inconvenience, it was believed necessary in order to weed out those people who are not disabled who may have disabled plates. When a disabled person dies, the license plates are required to be returned to the Department of Revenue, however, in some cases family members who are not disabled keep the plates and continue to use and renew them. The penalty for obtaining or using a disabled plate or placard illegally is a fine between $5 and $500 or up to one year in the county jail, or both.

Rep. David Schwab represents the 157th District.