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California State Assembly Proposes Bill to Help Low-Income Drivers Who Can’t Afford Tickets

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Photo: Rasbak

Many cities have tow-zone areas that some drivers fail to recognize or heed. As a result, it’s common for city vehicle-owners to receive parking tickets. A parking ticket can be a frustration for any driver. The frustration turns into a pain point, however, for drivers with limited incomes and more than one parking ticket.

San Francisco is one city trying to change conventional towing rules to help this group of people. Assemblyman David Chiu is spearheading the proposed legislation, known as Assembly Bill 516.

Disadvantages of conventional towing laws

Per Chiu, towing policies are expensive for parking-ticket recipients, as well as tow yards and cities. For low-income drivers, traditional towing policies can cause a downward spiral into poverty that’s hard to escape. To start, the individual must pay to get their car out of a tow yard within 30 days or risk the city selling it. This can result in access to their job, medical care, and educational institutions.

For those who live out of their vehicle, this loss equates to a loss of shelter. It’s extremely difficult for these drivers to pay delinquent ticket fees when their car is gone and they have no way of getting to their job to make enough money to put towards that debt.

Urban towing policies are also pricey for tow yards and cities. According to Chiu, cities lose about $2K for every vehicle that they tow.


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A better way

Assembly Bill 516 would lend a helping hand to drivers with five or more tickets. It would also help those who’ve left a car abandoned on a public street for more than 72 hours and those whose registration has been expired for six months.

Chiu also suggested other ways to enforce parking ticket and registration fees. Bank levies, civil judgments, suspending a driver’s license, and garnishing wages are more moderate methods cities could employ for low-income individuals with unpaid parking tickets.

Stay posted for more details on this proposed bill in the days to come. It’s just one of the exciting auto-themed developments that California is pursuing this year.


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News Sources: KCBS Radio, The San Francisco Examiner