HA‘ILONO KINA
TO BRING THE NEWS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Published
by the Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB)
SPECIAL
EDITION – PARKING
PARKING-RELATED LEGISLATION IN 2008
The
2008 Legislature was filled with nine bills that attempted to modify the Hawaii
Revised Statutes relating to parking for persons with disabilities. The Disability and Communication Access
Board (DCAB), as the state agency that administers the statewide program in
cooperation with the four counties, was very active with strong positions on
these bills.
Nine
bills introduced in both the Senate and House proposed to issue either parking
placards or license plates to nursing homes or long term care facilities to
assist in transporting their patients or residents in the community. DCAB’s position follows federal
guidance that standardizes the eligibility for placards to people not
agencies. After all, it is a
person that has a disability or mobility impairment, not an agency. Since a placard is transferable between
vehicles as long as the placard is being used in conjunction with the transport
of the placard holder, DCAB believes that the ‘placard should follow the
person’ even if it is, at times, more inconvenient for the provider. In addition DCAB is concerned about
abuse, as the placard would not be issued with an ID card to identify a person,
thus making the placard very easily misused and difficult to enforce proper
use. Those bills have all died or were held. However, in recognition of the difficulty for some larger
facilities, such as nursing homes, DCAB will be working with those facilities
and the National Association of Social Workers after the Legislature adjourns
to examine possible solutions for their transportation needs.
A
bill introduced in the Senate would have allowed women in their third trimester
of pregnancy to receive a temporary placard to park in stalls reserved for
people with disabilities. This
bill did not receive a hearing and is dead. Nonetheless, DCAB took a position opposing the bill. DCAB recognizes the difficulty that
many women face as their delivery date approaches but does not believe that all
women categorically require a placard. While many people have various reasons
for being inconvenienced, we must remember that the more accessible parking
stalls are used as a ‘convenience,’ the less available they are for people with
mobility limitations who ‘require them as a necessity’ to access a program or a
site.
A
final bill introduced in the Senate would have allowed people with disabilities
who have a placard to drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane on the
freeway. Wow! Talk about potential
abuse! This bill also did not
receive a hearing and is dead.
DCAB reminds everyone that the parking placard or license plate is
issued because a person has a disability walking, not driving or riding in a
car, and will oppose this bill if it is introduced again.
Would you like to receive
updates on bills relating to parking for persons with disabilities? The Legislature pays particular
attention to the testimonies from persons with disabilities who are users of
this valued program. If you would
like to be on our list serve, please email us at dcab@doh.hawaii.gov.
ABUSE OF PLACARDS
Have you ever seen
somebody hang a disability parking placard from a rearview mirror and then dash
into a store? Did it seem suspicious to you? Was the person quite young,
perhaps a new driver? Although statistics are not available, the abuse of
accessible parking spaces is a problem nationally. Often, it’s a case of
somebody “borrowing” a placard that belongs to a relative. Such borrowing can
result in confiscation of a placard and a fine of $260. To address the
situation, DCAB has arranged to visit driver’s education classes at Hawaii
public high schools. Mark Obatake, a disability rights advocate for over 20
years, has volunteered to give short talks to high school students to make them
aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act and to encourage them not to abuse
accessible parking spaces. If you would like Mark to come to your school, he
can be contacted through DCAB in Honolulu at (808) 586-8121.
DO OLD PLACARDS EVER DIE???
What happens to an
expired placard once it’s replaced by a new placard? Does it wind up in the wastebasket? Not at all. When a person renews their permit,
he/she is given a postage paid business reply envelope. It is sent to DCAB where the placard
number on the electronic record of the person it belonged to is marked
“Returned” and then it is destroyed through safe, nonpolluting, EPA-approved
incineration. That way, we know it
isn’t laying around somewhere waiting to be abused. In FY 06-07, 8,541 expired placards were returned through
this process. Thank you for
helping get the old placards off the streets!
THE OOPS! FACTOR
Applications for
disability parking placards have 2 sections: Side 1 is for the applicant to
fill out and Side 2 is for the physician’s certification. Occasionally, an
applicant forgets to fill out Side 1 and attempts to obtain a placard with the
physician’s certification only. We call this The Oops! Factor. Because of the
possibility for fraud, such an application is rejected by county staff and the
original copy is sent to DCAB. When we receive it, we contact the physician’s
office and inform them that a new application will have to be certified.
Hopefully, the applicant will remember to fill out Side 1 of the application
next time!
PLACARD RETRIEVAL
Besides procuring and
issuing disability parking placards through the counties, the Statewide Program
on Parking has implemented an initiative to retrieve placards from deceased
placard holders. About twice a year, DCAB asks the State Vital Statistics
Office (Death Records) at the Department of Health to cross-reference their
database and ours. When the same name, birth date and identification appear on
both lists, the name is placed onto a third list. This list becomes a mailing
roster to retrieve placards from the families of deceased placard holders. DCAB
mails out between 25 and 50 such letters a week, asking the recipients to
return the unexpired placard and identification card in a return mail envelope
included with the letter. Over the course of a year, hundreds of unexpired
placards are retrieved and destroyed this way. Of course, many relatives return
the placards and identification cards on their own, which is a big help!
NEW POLICE OFFICER
Interview With Sgt. Emilio Laganse
Sgt. Emilio Laganse, a 26-year veteran of the Honolulu Police
Department, was recently
assigned to lead the Volunteer Special Enforcement Officer Program
which enforces laws
and ordinances concerning accessible parking. Recently, he visited
DCAB to
discuss his plans for the program.
What is the Volunteer Enforcement Program?
The
name that we use is VSEO, which means Volunteer Special Enforcement Officers.
It’s a program that’s been around, but just recently came to fruition. It
utilizes volunteers commissioned as police officers to issue parking citations.
Initially it concentrated mainly on disability parking, but the duties have
expanded to cover other parking violations.
What are the goals of the volunteer program?
As
far as disability parking placards are concerned, the goals of the program are
to cite persons that misuse placards and accessible parking spaces. Sometimes
people misuse placards that belong to relatives for their own personal use.
That’s an abuse of a privilege. We need to discourage that.
How and where do you find volunteers?
They
come from all over. We currently have 9 volunteers that were already onboard
when I came to lead the program. We are in the process of recruiting more
volunteers. Right now, it’s by word of mouth. We also make requests to talk to neighborhood boards and
utilize the Citizen Patrol Academy, which visits schools and teaches
neighborhood groups. They do some canvassing for us. We don’t want too many
volunteers, either. With the
limited amount of resources and personnel we already have, we want to build up
slowly with the goal of 30 to 40 volunteers.
Do the volunteers work for the same hours as a regular police
officer?
We
ask for 20 hours per month, which is about 5 hours per week. But I have some volunteers that work
more than 20 hours per month. Some
work Monday through Friday and some only 3 days a week. The majority, say 90%,
are retired. A few have full time
jobs and steal time on weekends, and even after work to go
on patrol.
What kind of training do they receive to be volunteers?
They
get roughly about 40 hours of training.
It covers a large spectrum of parking violations. They also have to learn the policies of
the police department because they are going to be working as part of the
department and need to know standards of conduct, and all the policies that
govern them on and off duty. It’s almost like going to school,
except it’s a condensed version.
If someone wants to become a volunteer how can they apply?
They
can call our office at (808) 529-3136 and I will set up an interview. They will be interviewed either by
myself or someone on the staff.
After they are interviewed, they submit an application and we perform a
background check. Once that’s accomplished and everything is in order, they
begin training.
If you had a piece of advice to give to people that volunteer, what
would it be?
All
we ask of the volunteers is that they don’t patrol in the area where they
live. Avoid confrontation, that’s
my advice.
Thank you!
PARKING DATA - FISCAL YEAR 06-07
Here are some facts about the parking program
for persons with disabilities:
• 30,423
placards were issued in FY 06-07 (includes new applications and
renewals).
• 365
license plates were issued in FY 06-07.
• 84%
of the placards issued were 4-year placards; 16% were temporary placards.
• There
was a 19% increase of placard holders from the past two years.
• The
top 4 disabilities of placard holders were:orthopedic, arthritic, neurological,
and heart
conditions.
• The
offices that processed the most placard applications were: Ala Moana (4,589), Kalihi (3,624),
Kahului (2,850), Hilo (2,821), and Kapolei (1,933).
For more information
about these statistics, please
contact Peter Harrer by phone (808) 586-8121 or by email at
peter.harrer@doh.hawaii.gov.
DCAB
919 Ala Moana Blvd., Rm. 101
Honolulu, HI 96814
PHONE
Oahu: 586-8121
v/tty
Kauai: 274-3141
v/tty ext.
6-8121#
Hawaii: 974-4000 v/tty ext.
6-8121#
Maui: 984-2400
v/tty ext.
6-8121#
Molokai & Lanai:
1-800-468-4644 v/tty
FAX
(808) 586-8129
EMAIL
WEB
NON-DISCRIMINATION
STATEMENT: We provide access to
our activities without regard to race, color, national origin (including
language), age, sex, religion, or disability. If you have a concern, write or call the Disability and
Communication Access Board or the Department of Health Affirmative Action
Officer at P.O. Box 3378, Honolulu, HI
96801-3378, or call 586-4616 (v/tty) within 180 days of a problem.