Do disabled parking plates let you skip campus parking permits and fees at a Texas university?

Plain-English summary

A state representative asked whether a Texas state university could make a disabled driver who has special disabled license plates or a windshield card get a campus parking permit (or even a temporary visitor pass) and pay university parking fees in order to park in disabled spaces on campus.

The office answered that the university could. Education Code section 51.202 gives the governing boards of state universities broad authority to regulate parking on campus, including designating parking areas and their use, charging for parking, and running a vehicle-registration system with a reasonable charge. Section 54.505 lets the university charge the registration fee to students, faculty, and staff and charge reasonable fees for facilities and enforcement, with the limit that a student is not charged unless the student wants to use the facilities. The disabled-parking statute, V.T.C.S. article 6675a-5e.1, lets a vehicle with disabled plates or a windshield card park for unlimited periods in spaces designated for the physically handicapped and exempts it from fees or penalties for metered or time-limited parking.

The office read those two schemes together. Because section 51.202(a)(2) lets the university designate parking areas and their use, it in effect lets the university prohibit parking by vehicles that lack the appropriate university permit. Article 6675a-5e.1 itself says, in the last sentence of section 6(b), that it does not permit parking where parking is prohibited, so it does not require a university to let a disabled vehicle park in places that are off-limits to those without the right campus permit. And the office concluded that the university's semester or academic-year permit fees were not the kind of fee the disabled-parking statute exempts, because that exemption covers fees and penalties for metered or time-limited parking, not a long-term permit. So a university could require students, faculty, and staff, even if disabled, to register vehicles and pay a reasonable fee, and could require disabled students to pay student permit fees and park in student-designated areas. The office added one caveat: it did not decide how the disabled-parking statute applies where a university collects its parking fees through ordinary parking meters.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1995. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The disabled-parking provisions in former V.T.C.S. article 6675a-5e.1 were later recodified into the Transportation Code, and the Education Code sections on campus parking have been amended since 1995. Federal disability law, which the opinion did not address, may also bear on campus parking today. Read this page for how the office harmonized the 1995 statutes, and check current Texas and federal law before relying on any specific rule mentioned here.

What the opinion meant for those who asked

For Representative Berlanga (the requestor): The office answered that, under Education Code sections 51.202 and 54.505, a university could require students, faculty, and staff (even if disabled) to register their vehicles and pay a reasonable fee, and could require disabled students to pay student permit fees and park in student-designated areas. The disabled-plate statute's section 6 did not require otherwise.

For state universities: The opinion read section 51.202(a)(2)'s power to designate parking areas as effectively authorizing the university to prohibit parking by vehicles without the appropriate permit. Because article 6675a-5e.1 does not permit parking where parking is prohibited, it did not require allowing disabled vehicles into those areas, and the university's semester or academic-year permit fees were not within the section 6(b) exemption for metered or time-limited parking.

For disabled drivers, students, faculty, and staff on campus: Under the opinion, disabled plates or cards did not exempt them from university vehicle registration or from student parking-permit fees, or from the requirement to park in designated student areas. The office expressly did not decide what happens when a university collects parking fees through ordinary parking meters.

Common questions

Do disabled plates let me skip the campus parking permit fee?
Under this opinion, no. The office said a university could still charge disabled students the regular semester or academic-year student permit fees, which it treated as outside the disabled-parking statute's exemption.

Can a university make a disabled faculty member register a car and pay a fee?
Yes. The opinion said the university could require students, faculty, and staff, even if disabled, to register their vehicles and pay a reasonable fee.

Doesn't the disabled-parking law let me park free in any space?
That law (article 6675a-5e.1, section 6) allows unlimited parking in spaces designated for the physically handicapped and exempts disabled vehicles from fees or penalties for metered or time-limited parking. But the office said it does not override a university's authority to designate parking areas or charge permit fees, and it does not permit parking where parking is prohibited.

Can the university require disabled students to park only in student areas?
Yes. The opinion said a university could require students, even if disabled, to park in the areas designated for students under section 51.202.

Did the opinion cover parking meters on campus?
No. The office expressly declined to address how article 6675a-5e.1 applies where a university collects its parking fees through the use of ordinary parking meters.

Background and statutory framework

Education Code section 51.202 gives state university governing boards broad authority to regulate the operation and parking of vehicles on campus, including assigning parking spaces, designating parking areas and their use, assessing a charge for parking, and instituting a vehicle-registration system with a reasonable charge (section 51.202(a)(2), (5)). Section 54.505 provides that the registration fee may be charged to students, faculty, and staff, and that reasonable fees may be charged for facilities and for the enforcement and administration of parking and traffic regulations, with the proviso that a student may not be charged unless the student wants to use the facilities.

V.T.C.S. article 6675a-5e.1 provided for county tax assessor-collectors to issue special license plates and removable windshield identification cards to eligible disabled residents. Section 6(a) allowed a vehicle displaying those plates or a card, when operated by or for a disabled person, to park for unlimited periods in spaces designated for the physically handicapped. Section 6(b) exempted such a vehicle from fees or penalties for parking at a meter or in a time-limited space (with stated exceptions, including federal fees), and provided that the section does not permit parking where parking is prohibited. Harmonizing these, the office concluded that the university's authority to designate parking areas let it prohibit parking by vehicles without the proper permit, that article 6675a-5e.1 did not entitle disabled vehicles to park in those prohibited areas, and that the university's long-term permit fees fell outside the section 6(b) exemption for metered or time-limited parking.

Citations

Statutory provisions discussed:

• Education Code § 51.202 (university authority to regulate and charge for campus parking and vehicle registration)
• Education Code § 54.505 (who may be charged the registration fee; reasonable parking fees)
• V.T.C.S. article 6675a-5e.1, § 6 (disabled license plates and windshield cards; parking privileges and fee exemptions)

No court cases were cited.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/dan-morales/dm-0345
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1995/dm0345.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain (including footnote numbering) — the linked PDF is authoritative.

Office of the Attorney General
State of Texas

DAN MORALES
ATTORNEY GENERAL

May 2, 1995

Honorable Hugo Berlanga
Chair
Committee on Public Health
Texas House of Representatives
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910

Opinion No. DM-345

Re: Authority under state law of a state university to regulate parking by the disabled on campus (RQ-730)

Dear Representative Berlanga:

You present questions about a state university's regulation of parking by disabled persons on campus.

Education Code section 51.202 gives the governing boards of state institutions of higher education broad authority to regulate the operation and parking of vehicles on campus, including "assigning parking spaces and designating parking areas and their use and assessing a charge for parking" and "instituting a system of registration for vehicle registration, including a reasonable charge." Educ. Code § 51.202(a)(2), (5). Section 54.505 specifies that the section 51.202 registration fee may be charged to "students, faculty, and staff" and adds that "a reasonable fee or fees" may be charged "for the provision of facilities and the enforcement and administration of parking and traffic regulations . . . provided however that no such fee may be charged to a student unless the student desires to use the facilities."

V.T.C.S. article 6675a-5e.1 provides for the issuance by a county tax assessor-collector of special license plates and/or removable windshield cards to eligible disabled persons residing in the county. Section 6 of the article provides:

(a) Any vehicle upon which such special license plates are displayed or in which a removable windshield identification card is placed . . . , when being operated by or for the transportation of a disabled person, shall be allowed to park for unlimited periods in any parking space or parking area designated specifically for the physically handicapped.
(b) The owner of a vehicle on which the special license plates are displayed or in which a removable windshield identification card is placed . . . is exempt from the payment of fees or penalties imposed by a governmental authority for parking at a meter or in a space with a limitation on the length of time for parking, unless the vehicle was not parked at the time by or for the transportation of a disabled person. This exemption does not apply to fees or penalties imposed by a branch of the United States government. This section does not permit parking a vehicle at a place or time that parking is prohibited.

You ask whether, in view of the provisions of section 6, a state university may require that a disabled person, with article 6675a-5e.1 special license plates or a windshield card displayed on his vehicle (hereinafter a "disabled vehicle"), who wishes to park in disabled parking places on campus, obtain a "campus parking permit," "[o]r even [a] temporary visitor pass[]," and pay university fees associated therewith.

In our opinion, Education Code section 51.202(a)(2), in giving a state university authority to designate parking areas and their use, in effect authorizes the university to "prohibit" parking by vehicles without student or other appropriate university parking permits for the parking area in question. Thus, under the last sentence of subsection (b) of article 6675a-5e.1, section 6 does not require a state university to permit the parking of "disabled vehicles" in parking places "prohibited" for persons not also having the appropriate university parking permit. Furthermore, we do not think that fees assessed by the university under sections 51.202(a)(2) and 54.505(b) for students using its parking facilities -- where the fees are charged for the issuance of a parking permit which permits parking over long periods like semesters or academic years in parking areas designated for students -- should be considered to be within the exemption from "payment of fees or penalties . . . for parking in a space with a limitation on the length of time for parking" set out in section 6(b) of article 6675a-5e.1 with respect to "disabled vehicles."

Accordingly, the university may require that students, faculty and staff, even if they are disabled, register vehicles under sections 51.202(a)(5) and 54.505, Education Code, and pay a reasonable fee therefor, and may require that students, even if they are disabled, pay student parking permit fees established under sections 51.202(2) and 54.505(a) and, moreover, park in areas designated for students under section 51.202(2).[1]

SUMMARY

A state university may require that students, faculty, and staff, even if disabled, register vehicles and pay a reasonable fee therefor, and may require that students, even if disabled, pay student parking permit fees for use of campus parking facilities and park in areas designated for students.

DAN MORALES
Attorney General of Texas

JORGE VEGA
First Assistant Attorney General

SARAH J. SHIRLEY
Chair, Opinion Committee

Prepared by William Walker
Assistant Attorney General

[1] We note that we do not attempt here to anticipate or resolve all issues which may arise in the context of state university authority over campus parking under the provisions of article 6675a-5e.1. For example, as you do not specifically raise the issue, we do not address here the effect of article 6675a-5e.1 in situations where the university collects its parking fees through the use of ordinary parking meters.