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ASSEMBLY, No. 340
SENATE, No. 1492
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
212th LEGISLATURE

Highlights

This bill makes several changes to the State’s handicapped parking laws.

• The bill requires information about handicapped parking laws to be included on the driver’s test and in the driver’s manual.

• The bill establishes the “Handicapped Parking Education Fund” to be administered by the Motor Vehicle Commission and used for educational programs about handicapped parking laws.

• The bill requires that $5 of each fine collected for handicapped parking violations go to the “Handicapped Parking Education Fund.”

• The bill requires that handicapped placards be renewed every three years and that, upon renewal, the Director of the Motor Vehicle Commission issue a color-coded sticker to the person with a disability or the person renewing the placard on the person with a disabilities behalf to be affixed to the placard to signify its continued validity.

• The bill requires that handicapped license plates also be renewed every three years and that, upon renewal, a color-coded sticker be issued to be affixed to the plate to signify its continued validity.
The purpose of the bill is to make handicapped parking spaces more accessible for those that need them by increasing education about handicapped parking, and making it easier for police to verify the continued validity of handicapped placards and handicapped plates.

UPDATE

There is companion bill in the Senate. S-1492 is sponsored by Senator Loretta Weinberg and now awaits action in the Senate Transportation Committee, Chaired by Senator Nicholas Sacco. 

Letters to Assemblyman Wisniewski, chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, to get the bill posted are having an impact.

A-340, sponsored by Assemblyman Pennacchio, is making progress in the state legislature. It now awaits action in the Assembly Transportation Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Wisniewski. Assemblyman Wisniewski has received dozens of letters from Monday Morning members urging him to post the bill in his committee.  Thank you to all who have written to the Assemblyman Wisniewski on this important bill.

Technical amendments (having to do with illegal parking fine increase, changing the word "handicapped" to "person with a disability" among other changes) to both bills have been offered once the bill is posted for a vote in Committee. For more information on these amendments, or to offer your own, contact Janice Sangle, 973-728-1282, or email jsangle@optonline.net

What needs to be done now:

l Write, call, or e-mail Senator Weinberg to thank her for introducing S-1492.
l Write, call or e-mail Senator Sacco to urge him to post S-1492 in his Senate Transportation Committee
l Write, call or e-mail your own state senator and urge him or her to sign on as co-sponsor of S-1492
l Keep writing letters to Assemblyman Wisniewski urging him to post A-340 in the Assembly Transportation Committee.
l See www.njleg.state.nj.us/ to find contact information on members of the state legislature and schedules of committee hearings.
l Stay involved in writing letters and making calls. Print off sample letters from the link above and distribute them to your members.

Form letter to Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Wisniewski

Form letter to Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Sacco

Printable copy of Bill A340
(PDF Format)

Contact your legislator

Legislation page