* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Henry
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Request for State Action - Immediate Towing of Unregistered Vehicles
FOR the purpose of calling on the Baltimore City delegation to the 2014 Maryland General Assembly to secure passage of a bill removing the 48-hour grace period for unregistered vehicles on public property from State law so that Baltimore can take immediate and effective action to rid our streets of these illegal vehicles.
body
Recitals
In Baltimore, as is true throughout Maryland, it is illegal for an unregistered vehicle to be stored on public streets. However, current State law that requires an unregistered vehicle to be on City streets for 48 hours before it can be towed makes this prohibition difficult to enforce in practice.
The 48-hour grace period required by State law significantly undermines efforts to keep these vehicles off the streets by effectively requiring enforcement personnel to respond twice to the same violation before action can be taken. Not only is this a burden on already stretched thin City resources when a complaint is filed, it also makes enforcement sweeps all but impossible because unregistered vehicles discovered on the streets cannot be towed on the spot. Even worse, in Baltimore's built-up urban environment, a vehicle owner can effectively thwart enforcement of the prohibition on unregistered vehicles by simply moving the vehicle a short distance every couple of days.
In order to get unregistered vehicles off of Baltimore's streets, we need to be able to respond to complaints when they are made and take immediate action against these vehicles when they are found so that they can't simply be moved to evade enforcement. Without this capability, too many of these potentially unsafe and untraceable vehicles are able to stay out there in violation of the law.
A simple change to ยง 25-201(b)(7) of the State Transportation Article to remove the 48-hour grace period from the definition of an abandoned vehicle would allow unregistered vehicles to be towed immediately upon discovery. This would help to take many of these dangerous vehicles off of our streets while alleviating parking congestion. Making this small change would be an easy fix to a genuine problem throughout our City.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council calls on the Baltimore City delegation to the 2014 Maryland General Assembly to secure passage of a bill removing the 48-hour grace period for unregistered vehicles on public property from State law so that Baltimore can take immediate and effective action to rid our streets of these illegal vehicles.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Governor, the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Baltimore City House and Senate Delegations to the Maryland General Assembly, the President of the Maryland Senate, the Maryland House Speaker, the Mayor, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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ccres/RSAImmTow/tw
dlr13-0714~intro/08Jan14
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ccres/RSAImmTow/tw