Under Transportation Omnibus Minnesota Will No Longer Tow Cars for Unpaid Parking Tickets
National criminal justice policy experts say the practice was ‘costly, cumbersome, and ineffective’
(Saint Paul, MN) – Minnesota took a nation-leading step in ending the practice of towing vehicles for unpaid parking tickets when Governor Walz signed the state’s annual transportation omnibus bill, House File 3436, into law Wednesday morning. Under previous Minnesota state law, towing a vehicle from an expired meter was explicitly prohibited with the exception of vehicles associated with five or more unpaid parking tickets. Originally filed under House File 4762 and Senate File 4926, but later included in the annual omnibus, the measured signed into law today removes that exception.
Justice Action Network State Policy Manager Jenny Catchings released the following statement in the hours after the omnibus bill earned Governor Walz’s signature: “Towing vehicles for unpaid parking tickets is a costly, cumbersome and ineffective debt-collection method that unnecessarily burdens lower-income families and workers. The unnecessary loss of a vehicle has immediate economic consequences for the 82% of Minnesotans who commute to work by car while failing to provide any real economic benefit to the state, which has far more effective methods of debt collection. A person who is not able to get to work is even less likely to be able to pay the tickets, fines and fees associated with the loss of their vehicle. Minnesota’s leaders set an example for the nation today as they continued to build on the modernization of the state’s fines and fees practices, including last session’s efforts to eliminate debt-based driver’s license suspensions.”
The omnibus bill passed both chambers of the legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support last week, including a 67-0 vote in the state Senate. Justice Action Network is the nation’s largest bipartisan criminal justice organization advancing data-driven criminal justice policies at both the state and federal levels.
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