18-1737.

Handicapped or disabled persons; offstreet parking facility; onstreet parking; designation; removal of unauthorized vehicle; penalty; state agency, defined.

(1) Any city or village, any state agency, and any person in lawful possession of any offstreet parking facility may designate stalls or spaces, including access aisles, in such facility owned or operated by the city, village, state agency, or person for the exclusive use of handicapped or disabled persons whose motor vehicles display the distinguishing license plates issued to such individuals pursuant to section 60-3,113, such other handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons whose motor vehicles display a handicapped or disabled parking permit, and such other motor vehicles which display a handicapped or disabled parking permit. Such designation shall be made by posting aboveground and immediately adjacent to and visible from each stall or space, including access aisles, a sign which is in conformance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices adopted pursuant to section 60-6,118 and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the federal regulations adopted in response to the act, as the act and the regulations existed on January 1, 2024.

(2) The owner or person in lawful possession of an offstreet parking facility, after notifying the police or sheriff's department, as the case may be, and any city, village, or state agency providing onstreet parking or owning, operating, or providing an offstreet parking facility may cause the removal, from a stall or space, including access aisles, designated exclusively for handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons or motor vehicles for the transportation of handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons, of any vehicle not displaying the proper handicapped or disabled parking permit or the distinguishing license plates specified in this section if there is posted aboveground and immediately adjacent to and visible from such stall or space, including access aisles, a sign which clearly and conspicuously states the area so designated as a tow-in zone.

(3) A person who parks a vehicle in any onstreet parking space or access aisle which has been designated exclusively for handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons or motor vehicles for the transportation of handicapped or disabled persons or temporarily handicapped or disabled persons, or in any so exclusively designated parking space or access aisle in any offstreet parking facility, without properly displaying the proper license plates or handicapped or disabled parking permit or when the handicapped or disabled person to whom or for whom, as the case may be, the license plate or permit is issued will not enter or exit the vehicle while it is parked in the designated space or access aisle shall be guilty of a handicapped parking infraction as defined in section 18-1741.01 and shall be subject to the penalties and procedures set forth in sections 18-1741.01 to 18-1741.07. The display on a motor vehicle of a distinguishing license plate or permit issued to a handicapped or disabled person by and under the duly constituted authority of another state shall constitute a full and complete defense in any action for a handicapped parking infraction as defined in section 18-1741.01. If the identity of the person who parked the vehicle in violation of this section cannot be readily determined, the owner or person in whose name the vehicle is registered shall be held prima facie responsible for such violation and shall be guilty and subject to the penalties and procedures described in this section. In the case of a privately owned offstreet parking facility, a city or village shall not require the owner or person in lawful possession of such facility to inform the city or village of a violation of this section prior to the city or village issuing the violator a handicapped parking infraction citation.

(4) For purposes of this section and section 18-1741.01, state agency means any division, department, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the State of Nebraska created by the Constitution of Nebraska or established by act of the Legislature, including the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska state colleges, when the entity owns, leases, controls, or manages property which includes offstreet parking facilities.