Gov. Bill Lee (R) last week signed a bill into law to prevent predatory car booting by overzealous local officials.
The “Modernization of Towing, Immobilization, and Oversight Normalization” Act, or the MOTION Act, will take effect on July 1.
The bill, introduced by State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), aims to limit car booting and lower associated fees, as reported by The Tennessee Star when it passed the General Assembly in April.
Local governments that allow car booting will be subject to certain standards outlined in the bill.
One of those standards is that if a car is to be booted, a parking lot attendant must be present and identifiable as an employee when the car is booted and must be available to remove the boot within 45 minutes of a vehicle owner’s call.
The bill also sets forth new rules for towing, including that a vehicle owner is “properly notified if their vehicle is being towed, sold or demolished by a towing company.”
Towing companies are now limited to charging a fee of no more than $100 if a vehicle is being towed, but the vehicle’s owner returns during that process, and the car has not left the parking area.
Johnson released a statement when the bill passed the General Assembly, which he sent to The Star again Tuesday.
“This legislation will protect vehicle owners in Tennessee from bad actors seeking to profit off of immobilizing and confiscating vehicles,” said Johnson’s release. “I’ve received complaints from many constituents who have had to go through unreasonably long and expensive processes to regain control of their vehicles which were unfairly immobilized or towed. Unfortunately, our current laws do not provide legal recourse to punish parking enforcers engaged in certain nefarious practices. This bill targets those bad actors and protects Tennessee vehicle owners.”
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Car Boot” by Wesha. CC BY 3.0.
