The N.C. state Senate and House of Representatives has passed a bill that implements stricter towing regulations -- and at least one Duke student should be pleased.
Duke Law student Carmen Jo Ponce last fall worked with Durham City Council to improve the city's towing policies, namely those that do not prevent predatory towing -- when towing companies remove vehicles from private lots and demand cash payments and rights waivers for their release. After a brief stint off a recently proposed bill, Durham was re-added last week to a piece of state legislation that would tighten regulations on towing companies.
The bill passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate, and now goes to Gov. Bev Perdue's desk for final approval. Bill provisions include:
- Lot owners must have clear, minimum 24" x 24" "Private Parking" sign with the name and phone number of the towing company.
- Vehicles cannot be towed more than 15 miles in most cases, or at most 25 miles in special cases.
- Towing companies must provide written notices of rights to car owners who had their cars towed. These slips must also include notification of the right to appeal to a magistrate.
- Towing companies cannot require towed owners to waive rights such as compensation for damages to their vehicle through towing.
- Violators will be fined up to $100
State Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, proposed the bill in May, but Durham was cut from the list of cities and counties under the proposed legislation before the Senate passed the bill June 10.
State Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, requested that the city be removed from the bill while it was on the Senate floor so that he could receive feedback from City Council, McKissick told Bull City Rising last week. The (Durham) Herald-Sun reported that McKissick was "happy with Durham's existing towing rules," which limit towing fees. The new legislation allows cities and counties to self-determine whether to implement fee restrictions.
State Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, re-added Durham to the bill July 1 after noting the city's omission and following consultation with city officials.
Perdue is expected to sign the bill into law this week, which would place Durham on par with other North Carolina cities' towing regulations. Last fall, Duke's Jo Ponce compared Durham's towing regulations with those of Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Raleigh, and found seven aspects of legislation that made parking and towing more fair in those cities.
One area was clearer signage and towing company information, which is included in the current bill. Jo Ponce's mission began when her car was towed outside a restaurant, where a sign was not visible in the dark -- costing her $150.
“I think the industry is very solid,” Rucho told The (Raleigh) News & Observer last week. “But in reality the rogue guys are out there, and they ruin it for everybody. Hopefully we reined them in a little bit.”
Now, the question is how, where -- and whether -- Duke will adhere to the new guidelines once the legislation passes. Although Jo Ponce was towed off campus, many students have had their cars towed to the end of the Blue Zone or outside it without notice. Currently, the Blue, Red and Green Zones, among others, do not have large signage with tow company information placed at the front of the lots.
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