SAN FRANCISCO -- State lawmakers may soon be considering a bill aimed at ending assaults on meter maids in the wake of the alleged beating of a San Francisco parking control officer who suffered a painfully dislocated shoulder and a concussion.

Assemblyman Mark Leno's legislation would make it a felony to assault a parking control officer anywhere in the state.

District Attorney Kamala Harris said her office is taking any case of "parking ticket rage" very seriously.

"Parking control officers are city employees who are just trying to do their jobs," Harris said in a statement. "Assaults and violent activity on these city workers are unacceptable. We are paying very close attention to these cases."

The issue of assaults on meter maids came to the forefront late last year.

Lina Magailalio was charged with assault causing great bodily injury, battery and making criminal threats for allegedly beating a meter maid.

According to a report by Capt. Paul Chignell with the Ingleside police station, the assault occurred Nov. 21 near the intersection of 29th Street and Tiffany Avenue.

The female parking officer had just finished writing a ticket when the owner of the vehicle arrived and began shouting obscenities at the officer.

According to the report, Magailalio began "pummeling her with her fists about the face and upper body until the officer was completely defenseless and was barely able to access her radio."

The officer sustained not only a dislocated shoulder, but a concussion and other injuries as well. She required surgery for her injuries and had yet to return to her job.

"While this is a high-profile case, there have been many more that have gone unreported," parking control officers union representative Ken Glenn said. "Parking enforcement officers don't even report assaults any more because nothing happens when they do."

Glenn complained of officers being assaulted almost 30 times in 2006 alone, and the penalties doled out were slim, from citations to community service.