JEFFERSON CITY - Parking-ticket dead beats could lose more than money under legislation being considered by the General Assembly.
House and Senate committees heard two bills Tuesday to revoke licenses of drivers with multiple unpaid parking tickets. The mayor of St. Louis city had requested the bills.
"We have a problem in the city with people not paying parking tickets," said Rep. Brian May, D-St. Louis.
May's bill would allow license revocation after 10 unpaid tickets; a similar bill introduced by Sen. Jet Banks, D-St. Louis, would require just three unpaid tickets before drivers could lose their licenses. May's bill is based on an Illinois law.
Tom Stoff, of St. Louis city's parking division, testified the city has $2 million each year in unpaid tickets. The possibility of losing the license should lead to more tickets being paid, as it has in Illinois, he said.
With a guilty smile on his face, Senate President Pro Tem Bill McKenna, D-Jefferson County, asked if the law would apply retroactively.
"If there were a senator who had a question about specific violations that may be pending, we can sit down with that senator and work it out," Stoff replied with mock seriousness.
A city can seize a parking violator's car, but only if the car is found within the city limits. The problem arises with violators who do not live in the city and visit the city infrequently.
Parking violators in Columbia already face having their cars towed if they have more than five unpaid tickets -- but only if the car is found within the city limits.
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