Lawmakers consider school parking fees to raise revenue for DOE

This legislative session we will see lawmakers hash over a cornucopia of bills proposed specifically to raise revenue to make up for departmental budget cuts and to help balance the $1.2 billion budget deficit. Some of these bills will become law and many will not, but the discussion these proposals provoke will be interesting to follow.

One of those bills, HB2073 House Draft 1, would raise revenue to benefit public education, was approved today in the House Committee on Education. The bill would allow the Department of Education (DOE) to charge parking fees in parking lots and roadways under its jurisdiction. However, parking fees cannot be assessed during school related activities such as sporting events and parent-teacher conferences.

Funds collected from parking fees would go into a "parking revolving fund" within the DOE and be credited to the school that collects them.

The bill will now go before the entire House for a floor vote and if approved to the Committee on Finance for discussion.