JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you have a blue permanent disabled parking permit, you need to be aware of the new requirements put in place by Florida lawmakers. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will implement the new law.
Effective Oct. 1, any person issued a blue permanent disabled parking permit must renew the permit every four years and, when doing so, provide a certificate of disability completed and signed by a certifying authority within the last year. That means every blue disabled parking permit holder will, at least every four years and within a year of the date of their renewal, fill out Form HSMV 83039. Permit holders will not have to pay a renewal fee.
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In addition, effective July 1, if your blue permanent disabled parking permit is lost or stolen, a replacement will only be issued if you submit the same documentation required for renewals. The new law does not affect red temporary disabled parking permits, nor people who have disabled (wheelchair) license plates.
Under current Florida law, disabled parking permit holders must renew their parking permits every four years, but they do not have to submit a certificate of disability when renewing. They can renew online, by mail or by visiting any of the nine Duval County Tax Collector branch locations.
The legislation also directs DHSMV to collect calls reporting abuse of the permits. Calls should be placed to the DHSMV Customer Service Center at 850-617-3803.
More than 1.3 million Floridians currently have permanent blue disabled parking permits. The permanent permit is blue; the temporary permit is red.
The blue disabled parking permit with a current sticker must be visible from the front and rear of a motor vehicle. One side of the permit must display the applicant's driver license number or state identification card number, along with a warning the applicant must have such identification at all times while using the parking permit.
Illegally obtaining or using a permit can result in the loss of the parking permit and carries the potential for criminal penalties as outlined in Florida Statute 320.0848.
To contact the Duval County Tax Collector's office, call 904-630-1916 or email Taxcollector@coj.net. You can also visit www.coj.net/tc or follow it on Twitter @duvaltaxcollect.