PARKING & MOVING VIOLATIONS - H.B. 5624 (S-2): FLOOR ANALYSIS
House Bill 5624 (Substitute S-2 as reported)
Sponsor: Representative Joanne Voorhees
House Committee: Family and Civil Law
Senate Committee: Transportation and Tourism
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to do the following:
-- Prohibit parking in a place or in a manner that would block access to a space clearly designated as a fire lane, and allow volunteers other than police officers to issue citations for violations of that prohibition.
-- Provide that a law enforcement agency of a local unit of government could not administer a volunteer parking enforcement program without the local unit's authorization.
-- Require courts to levy, in addition to any fine or cost ordered under the Code, a $5 highway safety assessment and a $5 secondary road patrol and training assessment for each civil infraction determination "except for a parking violation or a violation for which the total fine and costs imposed are $10.00 or less". Currently, these assessments must be imposed for each civil infraction determination "for a moving violation".
The bill also provides that if a vehicle were leased or rented for 30 days or less, the vehicle owner could avoid liability for a State or local parking violation, if the owner provided the lessee's or renter's name, address, and driver's license number, and a copy of the signed rental or lease agreement, to the court that issued the violation within 45 days of being notified of the violation. The vehicle owner would remain liable if this information were not provided, or if the lessee or renter were not convicted of the violation.
The amendment concerning assessments would take effect upon the bill's enactment. The remainder of the bill would take effect on October 1, 2000.
MCL 257.629e et al. - Legislative Analyst: L. Arasim
FISCAL IMPACT
The revisions to the section that provides for secondary road patrol and training assessments and highway safety assessments would clarify and codify the current practice under State Court Administrative Office guidelines, thereby preventing the potential loss of $3 million annually. Also, the elimination of the distinction between moving and nonmoving violations for the purposes of assessments would increase revenue to the two funds by an estimated additional $1.2 million.
The provisions regarding responsibility for certain violations involving leased vehicles would have an indeterminate impact on fine revenue collections by local units of government. Provisions that would expand the type of parking violation citations that volunteers can issue would result in an indeterminate increase in the number of parking citations issued.
Date Completed: 6-5-00 - Fiscal Analyst: B. BowermanFloor\hb5624 - Bill Analysis @ http://www.state.mi.us/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.