§146.  Prohibited parking; leased or rented motor vehicles

A.  Whenever a leased or rented motor vehicle, identified as provided in Subsection B of this Section, is parked in violation of any state law, local ordinance, or regulation, and a citation is issued at a time when the driver is not present to receive the citation, prior to any proceedings on the citation, the governing authority under whose jurisdiction the citation is issued shall request an affidavit from the registered owner attesting to the name, address, and driver's license number of the person to whom the vehicle was leased or rented at the time the citation was issued.

B.  The owner of each leased or rented motor vehicle may place an identification tag attached to the inside of the bottom right side of the windshield of such vehicle.  The identification tag shall state that the vehicle is rented or leased and shall list the name and address of the registered owner.  All such information shall be clearly visible from the outside of the vehicle.  The Department of Public Safety shall approve the forms for the identification tags.

C.  Upon the request to furnish the affidavit pursuant to Subsection (A) of this Section, the owner shall within seven days after the receipt of the request, mail or deliver to the requesting authority an affidavit attesting to the name, address, and driver's license number of the person to whom the vehicle was rented or leased.  The affidavit shall create the presumption that the person to whom the vehicle was leased or rented was the driver who parked the vehicle in violation of the law, ordinance or regulation, and the requesting authority shall notify the driver of his responsibility for the violation.

D.  Whenever a leased or rented motor vehicle is not identified as provided in Subsection B of this Section or when the requested owner of a properly identified leased or rented vehicle fails to furnish the affidavit, the presumption created under Subsection C of this Section shall not apply and the citation shall be treated as any other regular parking citation.

E.  This Section shall supercede any conflicting provisions of R.S. 32:41 and 32:42 and any local ordinance or regulation adopted pursuant thereto or pursuant to any other authority.

Added by Acts 1983, No. 102, §1.