Florida drivers with disabilities could get additional parking protections under new transportation bill

Drivers with disabilities who use specially equipped vehicles could get additional protections when parking, under part of a transportation bill approved Wednesday by a House committee.

The proposal would prohibit vehicles with "permanently installed mobility access equipment" from being towed or ticketed if they take up more than one parking spot. The plan would allow people who use such vehicles to double-park "when reasonably necessary," including when no designated parking spots are available.

The measure was included in a broad transportation bill (HB 543) approved by the House Commerce Committee.

Rep. Rachel Plakon, a Lake Mary Republican who sponsored the proposal about drivers with disabilities, told the panel that Sylvia Longmore, a constituent whose car was towed from an Orlando airport, inspired the idea. Longmire said she double-parked before traveling because no spaces that accommodate her vehicle were available, adding that a "ramp is not a convenience" for someone who uses a wheelchair.

Olivia Keller, a disability rights advocate, said Plakon's effort won't fix a larger problem facing people using accessible vehicles: an inadequate number of designated parking spaces. Keller pointed to a Florida law requiring the number of parking spaces for people with disabilities to be increased "on the basis of demonstrated and documented need."

The number of designated parking spaces for people with disabilities is about 2 percent, but should be boosted to 7 to 10 percent, Keller said.

"This has been demonstrated. This has been documented. This has not been changed in over a decade," she argued. "This is a symptom of a much, much bigger problem that is not being addressed."

Keller is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging a 2025 law allowing pregnant women to use parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities. The lawsuit alleges the law violates federal protections.