Car boot battle: Proposed bill could change parking regulations
The booting battle under the Gold Dome
Georgia lawmaker are considering new regulations when it comes to parking enforcement, in particular, the booting of cars on private lots.
ATLANTA - The battle over the car boot is once again in the spotlight.
"The booter gets to be a judge, jury and executioner and decide when to put boots on cars," said state Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs.
Instead of trying to ban the boot like last year, Sen. McLaurin wants to regulate it like the towing industry. He says his bill would stop booters from monitoring parking lots themselves, instead requiring a parking lot owner to call for a boot. He says it would also ban them from paying property owners kickbacks.
"Some property owners just need to have more skin in the game," he said. "You can't just outsource the basic functions of your property ownership to a booting company."
The senator gave FOX 5 an email that he got from a law firm which handles booting cases. He says the email written by a property owner to its parking enforcement company asking why booting revenue is down.
In the email, the author writes, "I have just come to count on this booting revenue to pay our lot leases." The person then writes "... ask some of your staff what (sic) they think we are experiencing such a decline?"
"This is not the way we think about property ownership in America as being profitable and hardworking," Sen. McLaurin said. "This is property ownership that's just basically like bridge troll activity."
During a Georgia Senate Committee on Public Safety hearing, several people in the industry spoke against the bill.
"Us calling the booting company does not really work, allowing the booter access to our electronic systems, so they can monitor who has paid and who hasn't actually works," said Jack Hanning, a market asset manager for InterPark.
"They are parking enforcement officers and that's the only way some of these small lots can be controlled," said Daniel Schafstall from Executive Parking Systems.
"Boots are reversible, booters should be allowed to patrol and there really is not an issue," another man told the committee.
The bill passed out of the Senate committee; it will now move to the full Senate for consideration.