Tennessee § 55-21-106 - Disabled veterans and persons with a physical disability — Certificate of identification — Parking.

§ 55-21-106. Disabled veterans and persons with a physical disability — Certificate of identification — Parking.

Any veteran who has been honorably discharged from any of the armed services of the United States and who has a service-connected disability equivalent to the disabilities as prescribed in § 1 of Public Law 187 of the eighty-second congress, first session, and any person with a physical disability who possesses material incapacity for ambulation, shall be entitled to receive, and the department is authorized to issue, under such rules and upon such application as the department shall prescribe, a serially numbered certificate of identification for the personal use of the veteran or person with a physical disability. The veteran or person with a physical disability shall be entitled to courtesy in the parking of the automobile which shall relieve the veteran or person with a physical disability from liability for any violations with respect to parking, other than in violation of this section or § 55-8-160(a)(15). Any local authority may, by ordinance, prohibit parking on any street or highway for the purpose of creating a fire lane or to provide for the accommodation of heavy traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours, and the privileges extending to veterans and persons with physical disabilities in this section shall not apply on streets or highways where and at the times the parking is so prohibited. Any certificate issued as provided in this section shall be displayed prominently upon the automobile while being parked by or under the direction of the veteran or person with a physical disability pursuant to this section. Upon conviction of any offense involving a violation of the special privileges conferred upon holders of these special certificates, a magistrate or judge trying the case shall be authorized, as a part of any penalty imposed therein, to confiscate the serially numbered certificate provided for in this section and to return the certificate to the secretary of state, together with a certified copy of the sentence so imposed. Any person, other than the veteran or person with a physical disability to whom it was issued, who uses any certificate of identification for the purpose of parking an automobile as permitted by this section, commits a Class A misdemeanor. As to any application for a certificate, any official finding or rating as to disability within the requirements of this section by the United States veterans' administration shall be sufficient evidence of the qualifications of the applicant. As used in this section, “certificate” includes registration and license plates issued free to disabled veterans under the authority of § 55-4-256. Acts 1955, ch. 329, § 60; impl. am. Acts 1959, ch. 9, § 3; impl. am. Acts 1972, ch. 829, § 7; Acts 1978, ch. 810, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 59-861; Acts 1983, ch. 128, § 1; 1985, ch. 138, § 2; T.C.A., § 55-8-160 ; Acts 1989, ch. 591, §§ 1, 6; 1994, ch. 634, § 1; 2011, ch. 47, § 61; 2018, ch. 1023, § 52. Code Commission Notes. The misdemeanor in this section has been designated as a Class A misdemeanor by authority of § 40-35-110 , which provides that an offense designated a misdemeanor without specification as to category is a Class A misdemeanor. See also § 39-11-114 . Compiler's Notes. Former § 55-21-106 (Acts 1975, ch. 163, § 6; T.C.A., § 59-2206), concerning display of distress flags, was repealed by Acts 1986, ch. 598, § 7. Acts 2011, ch. 47, § 107 provided that nothing in the legislation shall be construed to alter or otherwise affect the eligibility for services or the rights or responsibilities of individuals covered by the provision on the day before the date of enactment of this legislation, which was July 1, 2011. Acts 2011, ch. 47, § 108 provided that the provisions of the act are declared to be remedial in nature and all provisions of the act shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes. Cross-References. Penalty for Class A misdemeanor, § 40-35-111 . Responsibility for illegal parking, § 55-8-186 .