Bill to toughen handicap parking placard use stalled in SC House

South Carolina lawmakers could get tough on people who misuse handicap placards for free or convenient parking - but they’ll have to get moving soon.

Legislators introduced a bill last year tightening requirements on handicap placards.

The bill passed the Senate, but is stalled in the House.

Among other things, the bill would:

--Require a licensed physician to certify that a person’s “total and permanent disability substantially impairs his ability to walk.”

--Clarify and tighten the types of impairments that make people eligible for the placards.

--Require the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue placards with photo identification cards.

--Make it easier for volunteers trained by law enforcement agencies to issue tickets to parking cheaters.

Introduced by state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Camden, the bill is sitting in the House Committee on Education and Public Works, after the state Senate gave its thumbs up last year.

Bills that don’t pass the House by June 5 are effectively dead for the year.

A Post and Courier Watchdog investigation revealed widespread abuse of handicap placards, especially around the Medical University of South Carolina and the City Market where parking is at a premium.

The state’s existing law makes it relatively simple for anyone to get a handicap placard.

People are eligible if they are “disabled by an impairment in mobility.”

The new bill mirrors those in other states that require people using the placards to have an inability to walk more than 100 feet without aggravating an existing medical condition.

People with portable oxygen, severe cardiac conditions, wheelchairs and other significant mobility problems also would be eligible under the new bill’s provisions.

Some disabled activists say it’s time to get rid of the free parking perk, arguing that it tempts people to misuse placards, and that people with handicaps aren’t necessarily poor.

State law currently allows people with handicap placards to park for free at metered spaces and in garages, making the familiar blue hang tags worth some serious money.

Workers in the downtown medical complex sometimes pay as much as $150 a month for private parking spaces.

The Charleston Aviation Authority waived nearly $200,000 in parking fees last year for people with handicap placards. A Watchdog survey of handicap spaces at the airport found that many were filled with expensive, late-model cars.

The new bill would maintain the free-parking perk.