Habib: Give Tolled 520 Drivers Their Day in Court

Citing a need to address "beaurocratic foul-ups" that have plagued Washington's 520 tolling system, State Rep. Cyrus Habib (D-Kirkland), will testify in favor of a bill that would allow judges to hear appeals of penalties on unpaid toll charges.

"Everyone deserves a day in court," Habib said of the reason he proposed House Bill 1941, which goes before the before the House Transportation Committee this afternoon.

The bill would give judges in the state’s special “toll court” more leeway in cases where drivers appeal the inflexible penalties for non-payment of tolls on the SR 520 bridge and other tolled bridges, according to a press release from Habib's office.

“We just want to be fair to drivers on the bridge,” Habib said of the bill, which is co-sponsored by committee chair Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, and Larry Springer, D-Kirkland. “We’ve got a new system on the bridge, with no toll booths, and drivers shouldn’t get hit with heavy penalties because of bureaucratic foul-ups.”

Tolls were first imposed on the 520 bridge in spring 2012. Electronic sensors either detect a special electronic windshield indicator, which drivers have acquired in advance and have linked to a prepaid or online account, or the sensors record the license-plate number of the vehicle and the owner is billed by mail for the toll.

But so far the system has been plagued with problems. In some cases the bill never arrived in the mail or was not forwarded to the vehicle owner’s new address, triggering penalties for delays in making payment: $5 after a 15-day lapse, and another $40 after an 80-day lapse, for each crossing of the bridge.

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Attempts by drivers to explain the circumstances in the toll court have largely fallen on deaf ears, the release said, adding that current regulations authorize judges to reduce penalties only if the original toll was assessed in error.

Habib’s bill spells out that aggrieved drivers may explain any mitigating circumstances, including the failure to receive a notice in the mail, and that judges may respond by reducing or dismissing the $40 penalties. The drivers would remain liable for paying the actual tolls.

“The vast majority of drivers pay their tolls, and it would not be fair to them to let scofflaws off scot-free,” Habib said.

The committee will hear the bill at its meeting at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Hearing Room B in the John L. O'Brien Building on the state Capitol campus.