Archived Bills and Issues

Improved Refueling Service AB1277,

which improves the providing of refueling services to drivers with disabilities at self- service only gas stations, was signed into law in October, 1977. Its content became Chapter 13660 of the Business and Professions Code. It requires that when more than one person is on duty at a self-service only station they must provide refueling assistance at the self-service price to disabled drivers who have the official DMV disabled person's license plate or placard or veteran's license plate. An exception is made in the case where only two people are working, one of them is employed by a legally separate entity or is assigned, full-time and exclusively, to food preparation.

AB1277 also requires that

  1. signage be posted specifying the hours when refueling service is available,
  2. stations exempted from providing refueling service post a sign indicating the service is not available,
  3. the penalty for non-compliance be greatly increased, with a graduated fine schedule,
  4. responsibility for enforcement be shifted from the Department of Rehabilitation to the Department of Food and Agriculture's Division of Measures & Standards,
  5. signage at service stations will include the Department of Rehabilitation's 1-800 assistive technology phone number so motorists can obtain information about enforcement,
  6. the Board of Equalization provide notice to service stations four times a year regarding the requirements of the law, and
  7. the Department of Motor Vehicles print the requirements of the law on the disabled person placards.

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