GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2017

S                                                                                                                                                     1

SENATE BILL 477

Short Title:      Free Handicap Placard/Certain Organizations.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Senator Pate (Primary Sponsor).
Referred to:	Rules and Operations of the Senate

March 30, 2017

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to authorize qualifying organizations to receive a free handicapped windshield placard for each vehicle used to transport handicapped persons.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑37.6(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c)      Handicapped Drivers and Passengers; Distinguishing Placards. – Handicapped Drivers and Passengers; Distinguishing Placards. – A handicapped person may apply for the issuance of a removable windshield placard or a temporary removable windshield placard. Upon request, one additional placard may be issued to applicants who do not have a distinguishing license plate. Any organization which, as determined and certified by the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, regularly transports handicapped persons may also apply. These organizations may receive one removable windshield placardplacard, free of charge, for each transporting vehicle. When the removable windshield or temporary removable windshield placard is properly displayed, all parking rights and privileges extended to vehicles displaying a distinguishing license plate issued pursuant to subsection (b) shall apply. The removable windshield placard or the temporary removable windshield placard shall be displayed so that it may be viewed from the front and rear of the vehicle by hanging it from the front windshield rearview mirror of a vehicle using a parking space allowed for handicapped persons. When there is no inside rearview mirror, or when the placard cannot reasonably be hung from the rearview mirror by the handicapped person, the placard shall be displayed on the driver's side of the dashboard. A removable windshield placard placed on a motorized wheelchair or similar vehicle shall be displayed in a clearly visible location. The Division shall establish procedures for the issuance of the placards andand, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, may charge a fee sufficient to pay the actual cost of issuance, but in no event less than five dollars ($5.00) per placard. The Division shall issue a placard registration card with each placard issued to a handicapped person. The registration card shall bear the name of the person to whom the placard is issued, the person's address, the placard number, and an expiration date. The registration card shall be in the vehicle in which the placard is being used, and the person to whom the placard is issued shall be the operator or a passenger in the vehicle in which the placard is displayed."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to removable windshield placards issued or renewed on or after that date.