Among the new laws to take effect Wednesday, one will surely warm your heart.

L.A. state Assemblyman Mike Gatto's legislation that outlaws the practice of ticketing vehicles parked at broken meters in some cities, including L.A., will become law Jan. 1.

See also: L.A.'s Over-the-Top Parking Tickets Spark Revolt.

Lucky for Angelenos, however, the City Council already righted its own wrong on the matter earlier this year:

The City Council voted last summer to put an end to the broken-meter tickets. But not before Gatto took action with a statewide law of his own.

See also: Broken-Meter Parking Tickets Outlawed in L.A.

His rule allows motorists to park at broken meters for the maximum time allowed if the meter was working.

Cool.

A previous state bill did just that, but it allowed cities like L.A. to opt out of the law. Los Angeles officials, naturally, opted out.

Now they couldn't do that if they wanted to.

According to Gatto's office:

The bill, AB 61, guarantees that parking spots remain available to the motorists, shop owners, and small businesses that rely on them, even when the meter is not working properly.

Gatto's bill was clearly aimed at the grinch-like city of L.A. But city officials claim such laws aren't even really needed anymore. Why? The city this year fully replaced its old-school meters with digital models that are 99.99 percent efficient — meaning they almost never break down.

Darn. They're like the mechanical version of the traffic cop who always shows up to court.

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