2025 Traffic Offense Bills.
PASSED BILLS
HB 53 Litter Cleanup Amendments was on our list of suggested penalty bills to mitigate or drop. This bill originally included an increased penalty for unsecured loads, but that was removed based on our recommendation. The final bill increases the penalty for throwing lighted material from a moving vehicle from an infraction to a class C misdemeanor and adds a public awareness campaign regarding the importance of proper transportation and disposal of waste and maintaining clean roads and highways.
HB 80 Disorderly Conduct Amendments creates the class B misdemeanor offense of aggravated disorderly conduct on a street or highway for obstruction of traffic and failure to comply with law enforcement, which can be enhanced to a class A on a repeat offense within the year. In conjunction with CCJJ stakeholders we negotiated the penalties down from a class A misdemeanor and a third degree felony, but we still opposed this bill due to the extreme number of bills run this session that increased penalties and the fact that the protestors or demonstrators this bill targets likely won’t know that this behavior has been enhanced.
HB 112 Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Modifications prohibits a police officer from requesting the revocation or suspension of an individual's vehicle registration or driver license for a window tinting violation. We are still supportive of this, but the original bill was much stronger, prohibiting officers from using window tinting as a primary reason for stopping a vehicle.
HB 190 Motorcycle Amendments creates additional motorcycle infractions, including lane-splitting, performing a wheelie on a highway, and driving without a license plate and allows for the suspension of the driver's motorcycle endorsement or license for violations. The original bill also allowed for the seizure of the motorcycle, but that was removed.
HB 196 Vehicle Traction Amendments creates an infraction for a violation of controlled-access highways.
HB 222 Access to Traffic Accident Evidence requires that an attorney for a person who is party to a civil or criminal matter that requests a protected record must be provided the unredacted record if the attorney provides a letter stating that it will only be used as evidence and give this a maximum cost of $100.
HB 234 Motorcycle Safety Amendments increases a fine for someone who drives a motorcycle without an endorsement to $350, but provides for a waiver if they obtain the endorsement within 30 days.
HB 290 Bicycle Lane Safety Amendments attaches an infraction penalty to the unlawful behavior of obstructing a sidewalk with a vehicle, animal, or object.
HB 308 Driving by Minors Amendments allows an individual with a learner permit to drive with a licensed adult other than a parent.
HB 436 Impaired Driving Amendments requires law enforcement to report crash data that may be connected to DUIs that resulted in injury or death and adds this data to the public safety portal.
SB 59 Commercial Driver License Revisions provides that a driver license reinstatement does not apply to a CDL disqualification imposed due to DUI or other motor vehicle convictions.
SB 185 Compensatory Service in Lieu of Fine Amendments, again from Sen. Pitcher, allows courts to consider compensatory service instead of fines for defendants with any criminal conviction, including traffic offenses, and raises the credit amount from $10 to $12 an hour.
SB 195 Transportation Amendments creates an infraction for operating electric unicycles above 28 mph or in prohibited areas.
FAILED BILLS
SB 225 Government Records Access and Management Act Amendments would have made it a class B misdemeanor for a public employee to knowingly share or misuse a protected record after receiving a notice of improper disclosure.
HB 375 Commercial Driver License Modifications would have required background checks for CDLs and disqualified individuals with: convictions of aggravated assault using a motor vehicle; convictions that have been enhanced as part of a road rage incident; convictions of failing to stop at an officer's signal in the last three years; or violent felony convictions in the last three years.
We were opposed to HB 392 Unlicensed Driver Amendments, which sought to create a mandatory impoundment of a vehicle when the operator is an adult who has never been issued a driving credential. It would have required police officers to collect a quick fingerprint if the operator did not have valid identification on them or if the officer believed the identification was fraudulent. It also sought to increase penalties for driving without a license from an infraction to a class C misdemeanor on a first and a class B misdemeanor on a second. We testified to the disproportionate impact this bill will have on people who don’t speak English and can’t pass a driving test. We were also very concerned that this bill would allow suspicion that a driver doesn’t have a drivers license to become a primary reason for a traffic stop, which is profiling. The sponsor spoke with us and other opposed stakeholders a number of times but didn’t make substantial changes. Ultimately, the bill failed the Senate vote.
HB 407 Mini-motorcycle Amendments would have provided that violation of 41-6a- 11 "Bicycles and Other Vehicles, Regulation of Operation" by a child is an infraction. It also would have provided that an operator without a license who fails to stop at a visual or audible signal from a law enforcement officer shall be denied a driver license for one year. This bill went through many iterations, including one where parents could be charged with a class C misdemeanor if their child drove a mini-motorcycle in violation of the section, but this was on our list of penalties to drop and it ultimately was.
HB 416 Driver License Suspension Amendments sought to require the Driver License Division to notify a licensee by certified letter if the division takes action against a driver license.
HB 468 Automatic License Plate Reader Amendments was a good bill that didn’t pass. It would have codified situations in which law enforcement and other government agencies are able to use automatic license plate reader systems, thereby preventing their use in all other circumstances.
HB 565 Traffic Safety Amendments was this year’s “robo-cop” bill. This bill sought to create a red light camera pilot program that included up to 10 high-risk intersections and provided that the first violation would be a warning. We are always opposed to bills like this due to the infringement of sixth amendment rights.
SB 126 Airborne Chemicals Amendments underwent a series of changes. The original bill created the third degree felony offense of an owner or operator using an aircraft with the intent to cause weather geoengineering. It sounds like the sponsor was requested to drop the offense to an infraction due to the number of penalty bills this session and the lack of available funds, but then the committee members returned the penalty to a third degree felony. We met with the sponsor and he agreed to make it a class A misdemeanor, but the bill ultimately did not move forward.
SB 138 License Plate Reader Amendments would have removed the requirement to get a warrant for captured license plate data. It did not move forward.