Disability tag changes proffered

The required placement of disability tags in a vehicle could change, as could the exemption for using them far after their expiration date.

Under current law, a disability certificate must be hung from a vehicle’s rearview mirror. If there is no rearview mirror or the certificate holder’s disability precludes them from placing the certificate on the mirror, the certificate must be displayed on the driver’s side dashboard.

Sponsored by Rep. May Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake), HF721 would allow the certificate to be placed anywhere on the dashboard.

A man whose wife has a disability brought the idea to Kiffmeyer. “Frequently the certificate lying on the dash would fly out the car door and they would scramble to find it. With her disability that was a real problem, a real hassle,” she said. Further, the certificate’s reflection in the window hinders driver visibility.

The bill would also amend an exemption from conviction of a violation of disability parking restrictions.

“Right now in current statute no matter how long you have your certificate, even if it is expired and it’s been a long time, you’re able to have this situation where the violation is waived,” Kiffmeyer said. Under the bill, if a certificate is expired by more than 90 days that would no longer be the case.

“This issue was brought to us by members of the disability community who were having some frustration with the inability to find enough handicapped parking spaces in our ramps and other places,” said Pierre Willette, government relations representative for the City of Minneapolis. “What we found out after some more intense enforcement is there were an awful lot of expired handicap certificates being used, and a lot of those violations were being dismissed at the violations bureau because of the ability through the old statute to dismiss them regardless of how old the certificate was.”

The bill also requires surrendering of a permit if it’s more than 90 days expired.

Approved April 5 by the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee, the bill was sent to the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee. A companion, SF430, sponsored by Sen. David Brown (R-Becker) awaits action by the Senate Transportation Committee.