Quin passes stiffer penalties for misusing disability placard

Gov. Pat Quinn signed two measures Monday designed to stop people from misusing parking placards meant for the disabled.

Quinn signed the legislation during an event in Chicago, flanked by bill sponsors and disability advocates. The governor said the laws will help people with legitimate disabilities find parking spaces and keep able-bodied drivers from getting unfair breaks. He said the laws will fight fraud across Illinois.

“Citizens brought the issue forward. They spoke to the press, (which) at its very best, wrote stories about abuse of placards,” Quinn said. Misusing parking placards meant for people with disabilities “is really just plain wrong,” Quinn said.

One measure increases the initial fine for misusing a disability license plate or parking decal from $500 to $600. It also imposes a $1,000 fine on any health care provider who knowingly falsifies the certification that allows someone to get a disability plate or parking decal.

The second bill establishes a minimum fine of $2,500 and imposes the loss of driving privileges for anyone who improperly uses a dead person’s handicap placard.

Both laws take effect Jan. 1.

Bill sponsor Rep. Karen May, a Highland Park Democrat, said she drafted one of the measures in response to an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times’ last year. The newspaper found that able-bodied drivers in Chicago were parking for free at meters by using family members’ placards, counterfeit placards and stolen placards.

“I read this and it kind of made my blood boil,” May said, holding up a copy of one newspaper story.

The new law will create a separate placard for people with only certain disabilities to park for free at meters. In Chicago, a private company that operates the city’s parking meters has submitted more than $35 million in bills for free parking to people with disability placards and license plates. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is disputing that amount.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White promised a thorough review of the state’s parking program for people with disabilities and appointed former U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sam Skinner to chair the subcommittee to find ways to eliminate fraud and abuse in the program.

“If you don’t belong there, don’t park there,” said White, who proposed the measure toughening penalties for using a dead person’s handicap placard.