Handicap parking bills face roadblocks

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Several measures that would strengthen Hawai'i's handicapped parking laws have made it out of the Senate for the first crossover for bills, but are facing major roadblocks in the House.

Bill Sterling, a member of Honolulu Police Department's handicapped parking enforcement volunteer program, said he may encourage those in the disabled community to lobby for the measures to keep them alive.

"This is not just a handicapped-rights issue, it's also a moral issue," said Sterling, who has a medical condition that sometimes requires him to use a wheelchair. "Unless you or your relative is disabled, you won't really understand how it feels to walk another 200 feet with the aid of a cane or wheelchair because someone is illegally in a handicapped stall."

Senate Transportation Committee chairman Cal Kawamoto is still hopeful a majority of the related bills will make it through the Legislature. He also said advocates of the legislation need to make their voices heard in the House if the bills are going to pass there.

"We're having problems with illegal handicapped parking, along with fake handicapped decals and passes, and hopefully, these measures can help curb the problem," said Kawamoto, D-19th (Waipahu, Pearl City).

Senate Bill 209, which would fine a person between $250 and $500 for illegally using a handicapped parking space, passed first reading in the Senate two weeks ago and the House Health Committee on Thursday. The bill faces a hearing by the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee.

The current fine for parking in a handicapped stall without a proper permit is between $155 and $300.

But a similar House version — House Bill 834 — that would have set the same increase in fines, was stuck in the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee and appears dead this session.

The House bill would have also fined doctors up to $1,000 or a maximum 30-day prison sentence for fraudulently verifying a patient for handicapped parking. The bill also would have provided similar fines for people who fraudulently manufacture or alter handicapped-parking placards and ID cards.

A status of other related handicapped parking measures:

• Senate Bill 469 and House Bill 461, which would appropriate money for the counties to continue the handicapped parking permit program, made it past their respective houses and face additional committee hearings after crossing over.

• Senate Bill 836 and House Bill 787 would appropriate an undetermined amount to cover costs of administering volunteer disabled parking enforcement programs.