Bill Provides Enforcement For Purple Heart Parking Spots

Under a bill the West Virginia Senate approved Friday, anyone who incorrectly parks in a spot designated for Purple Heart recipients can face a misdemeanor charge and penalty. 

Senate Bill 467 allows Purple Heart recipients to park in spaces reserved for those with mobility impairments. It also allows spaces to be reserved for Purple Heart recipients and provides for a misdemeanor charge and fine for anyone who parks in such a spot without a Purple Heart designation. 

Bill sponsor Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, said there are numerous designated Purple Heart spots in the Northern Panhandle.

“A purple heart isn’t given for showing up. It’s given to men and women who are wounded in combat for our country, live with pain, injuries that don’t always show, but they feel them every day, especially doing something simple as walking across the parking lot,” Chapman said on the Senate floor. 

“These spots are a small way to say we haven’t forgotten what you gave. If we can make life a little easier for the people who shed blood for our freedoms, we should,” she said.

The bill passed the full Senate with a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays. It moves now to the House of Delegates for consideration there.