Gov. Brown signs bill barring tickets for parking at broken meters

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Gov. Jerry Brown has used his pen to address a pet peeve of many California motorists — getting a ticket for parking at a broken parking meter.

Brown signed legislation this week to allow drivers to park at broken meters, or in spaces with inoperable payment stations, for the posted time limit without getting a ticket.

“This bill was needed because motorists don’t know what to do when they find they’ve parked at a broken meter,” said Steve Finnegan, government affairs manager for the Automobile Club of Southern California. “That’s because rules change from city to city and they aren’t always posted.’

The bill was written by state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) who said it was needed to ‘help assure that California drivers are not ticketed based on unfair or unknown parking rules.’ It does allow cities to adopt different rules for parking at broken meters as long as motorists are given notice of those rules.

SB 1388 was sponsored by AAA, which has 10 million members in California and says they are increasingly complaining as parking meter technology is changing and ticket fines are getting bigger.

The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2013.

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-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento