Unpaid parking tickets or registration fees, parking your car on a city street for more than three days — these could get you towed and if you can’t pay fees, your car might be sold!
New legislation is hoping to ease those worries. AB 516 would ban towing in a handful of cases. The goal is to keep the poor from being penalized.
“They get their cars towed away because they can’t afford parking tickets. They get their cars towed away because they can’t afford DMV registration,” said Michael Herald.
Herald is with the Western Center on Law and Poverty. He is focused on the 46% of Americans who can’t afford a $400 emergency bill.
“And then to tow away their car, their main economic asset which they use to earn a living, it’s like a punishment. It’s like trying to kill a gnat with a sledgehammer,” said Herald.
