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Minutes for HB2504 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
Modifying what qualifies as a disability for a disabled veteran free license plate.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 9, 2022
Staff briefed the Committee on the contents of this bill. (Attachment 1)
The Chairman recognized Mark Stever as the first proponent. (Attachment 2) According to Mr. Stever, having been a paraplegic for the last 20 plus years he has watched handicap placards being granted to veterans who have a 50% disability regardless of whether or not the disability produces limited mobility. He feels this has defeated the purpose of handicap parking. He said almost all the handicapped parking spots are taken by VA employees who are veterans and none of them have limited mobility.
Chairman Proehl recognized Curtis Hervey as the first opponent. (Attachment 3) According to Mr. Hervey this bill seeks to redefine a service-connected disability. He said the statutes make no distinction between physical and nonphysical service-connected disability. This bill requires that to be deemed legitimate, physical-service connected disabilities must be observable and obvious to warrant the issuance of disabled veteran distinctive license plates. He concluded by saying HB2504 is divisive in the veterans' community and would discriminate between the veterans suffering from observable disabilities and those suffering from unobservable physical or mental disabilities.
The next opponent was Michael K. Kelly. (Attachment 4) According to Mr. Kelly the language in HB2504 would restrict the number of disabled veterans eligible for a disabled veteran plate. He said the bill creates the unfortunate presumption that some seriously disabled veterans are less worthy than others for the benefit of a free license plate and parking privileges. He said this bill creates an inconsistency with federal laws.
The Chairman asked if there were any other proponents, opponents or neutrals. There were none so he closed the hearing on HB2504 and opened the hearing on HB2594.
