The state is cracking down on handicapped parking abuse. Beginning tomorrow, July 1st, you’ll need a doctor’s prescription in order to get a disabled parking placard. It was rampant misuse and abuse of disabled parking permits that prompted the Washington state legislature to act.
In Seattle, a 2013 auditor’s report showed a loss of $1.4 million a year in parking meter fees due to people cheating the system.
Under the new state law, according to Department of Licensing spokesman David Bennett, penalties for cheating are tougher.
“Illegally obtaining or selling a special parking placard is now a gross misdemeanor instead of an infraction,” Bennett said.
Meaning, you could face criminal charges and a fine of $250 dollars.
The biggest change in the law is that, in most cases, an actual prescription from a medical professional is required to obtain a disabled parking placard. Under the old system, a doctor just had to sign off on an application.
Now the forms will carry an explicit warning to health care providers that they could face professional disciplinary sanctions for providing false information.
This law actually passed the legislature in 2014, but is just taking effect now because state agencies needed a year to work out the details.
For anyone who has a disabled parking permit, the new rules will apply when they go to renew it.
