Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 21, Part 1.

DISTINGUISHING REGISTRATION, LICENSE PLATES, PLACARDS.<br /> <br /> Present law requires the department of revenue ("department") to provide and issue registration and license plates of distinctive design to disabled drivers and placards of distinctive design to disabled passengers if certain requirements are met. One registration and license plate per family must generally be provided free to those disabled persons who are permanently and totally confined to a wheelchair, when so certified by a physician's statement. However, more than one registration and license plate per family must be provided free if more than one member of the family is permanently and totally confined to a wheelchair and is the owner or lessee of a motor vehicle.<br /> <br /> Additionally, present law provides that an owner or lessee of a motor vehicle who is a resident of this state and is the parent or legal guardian of an individual who is permanently disabled, whose permanent disability is certified by the physician's statement, and who does not own and is incapable of operating a motor vehicle, must receive a disabled plate upon payment of any applicable fees. However, if the individual is permanently and totally confined to a wheelchair, the disabled plate must be issued free of charge.<br /> <br /> Present law authorizes any person who is permanently confined to a wheelchair and who does not own and is not physically capable of operating a motor vehicle to apply to the department for issuance of one distinguishing disabled placard for the exclusive personal use of that person.<br /> <br /> Present law provides that placards may be either permanent or temporary. A permanent placard expires two years from the date it is issued. The person to whom the permanent placard is issued may renew the placard, and the renewal fee is $3. However, there is no renewal fee for a person permanently confined to a wheelchair.<br /> <br /> UNAUTHORIZED USE OF DISABLED PARKING OR PLACARD.<br /> <br /> Present law provides that it is also a misdemeanor for any person to park a motor vehicle so that a portion of the vehicle encroaches into a disabled parking space in a manner that restricts, or reasonably could restrict, a person confined to a wheelchair from exiting or entering a motor vehicle properly parked within the disabled parking space.<br /> <br /> DEFINITION OF DISABLED DRIVER AND PASSENGER<br /> <br /> Under present law as described above, a "disabled driver" is one who is disabled by paraplegia, amputation of leg, foot or both hands, or is disabled by loss of use of a leg, foot or both hands, or other condition, certified to by a physician duly licensed to practice medicine, resulting in an equal degree of disability (specifying the particular condition) so as not to be able to get about without great difficulty, including impairments that, regardless of cause or manifestation, confine the person to a wheelchair or cause the person to be so ambulatorily disabled that the person cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest.<br /> <br /> This bill changes the above mentioned law by replacing references of persons being confined to a wheelchair with references of persons requiring the use of a wheelchair because of a permanent incapacity for ambulation.<br />