Issues letter to Secretary of Transportation Biehler offering to craft legislation to reform current law

Rep. John Taylor last week demanded the state investigate abuses to the state’s license plate distribution system that has allowed some motorists to hide thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets.

Taylor, joined by state Reps. William Keller and Ronald Waters, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Allen D. Biehler demanding he “investigate this clear abuse of the system and make the necessary internal regulatory changes in procedure to stop this highly questionable practice and ensure that no replacement tag is issued to any applicant who owes outstanding fines on the tag for which they are seeking replacement.”

The extent of the problem was revealed in a report broadcast on 6-ABC news in Philadelphia that showed the top 25 scofflaws owed a combined total of $308,193.70 for 3,490 unpaid parking tickets.  Compounding the problem is that many of these citations were issued for illegal parking in restricted safety zones, including parking in front of fire hydrants, blocking curb access for the handicapped, and parking in spaces reserved for the handicapped.

The city’s top scofflaw owes more than $40,000 in fines. 

The scofflaws are exploiting a loophole in the law that allows drivers to replace license plates even if that plate is linked to unpaid tickets.  They then rack up unpaid tickets on the new license plate, and when that plate acquires tickets, the driver reports that tag as lost or stolen to continue running up more tickets.

“Should your agency be limited in your ability to sufficiently address this problem from an internal regulatory standpoint,” Taylor wrote Biehler, “we will draft and introduce the legislation necessary to stop those who unfairly abuse the current system in order to conceal and avoid paying their unpaid parking fines.

“While we are deeply troubled by this blatant abuse of the system, we are equally troubled to learn that a good portion of the outstanding citations issued to some of these multiple tag scofflaws were issued for illegal parking in restricted safety zones.”

The letter was hand delivered to Biehler’s office on Feb. 5.

Rep. John Taylor

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Contact: David J. Foster

(267) 207-0207