Allows phone-only parking payment in three cities

Existing law allows a local authority to establish parking meter zones and fix the rate of fees for those zones by ordinance. Existing law prohibits a local authority from requiring payment of parking meter fees by a mobile device, as specified.

This bill would instead authorize, until January 1, 2033, in the City and County of San Francisco, City of Long Beach, and City of Santa Monica, a local authority to require payment of parking fees by a mobile device, if it meets certain requirements, such as adopting an accessible and equitable parking cash payment plan that does not utilize parking meters or payment centers in parking payment zones to provide reasonably accessible alternative means for payment of parking fees using cash. The bill would also authorize the local authority in the City and County of San Francisco, City of Long Beach, and City of Santa Monica to operate the above-described parking zones for 5 years following the date of creation, in each of the respective entities, of the first mobile device parking payment zone, or until January 1, 2033, whichever is sooner. The bill would specify that a civil fine for parking in a zone that requires payment by mobile device and lacks a parking meter is 1/2 of the civil fine for failing to pay for metered parking. The bill would require a local authority to consult with specified stakeholders in the development of the plan and would require a local authority that adopts a plan and implements a mobile device parking payment zone to provide to its governing body and the Legislature a specified evaluation of the impact of all mobile device parking payment zones implemented by the local authority on equity, accessibility, and costs.