The Senate Finance Committee reported, as amended, House Bill 2165 which would allow disabled Purple Heart recipients to park free at municipal metered parking spaces provided the vehicle displays the appropriate registration plate designation and an unexpired parking certificate.

Counsel explained the strike-and-insert amendment incorporates the provisions of committee substitute for Senate Bill 274, which would also allow persons confined to a wheelchair who remain able to drive to park in an accessible parking space with a meter free of charge under specified conditions. The bill sets requirements for the privilege: a special registration plate or placard, a mobility impairment that renders the person unable to walk, that the meter is not accessible to the person while seated in a wheelchair without traveling more than 30 feet from the parked vehicle, and that the vehicle displays an unexpired parking certificate. Counsel noted that by displaying a parking certificate the person is swearing under penalty of false swearing that they meet the requirements of the section.

The vice chair moved that House Bill 2165, as amended, be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. Counsel said they had not heard from municipalities about budgetary impacts in the committee excerpt.