Public Transportation- House

Senate very introducer staff you may proceed. Morning thank you Mr chairman and colleagues representative mark very from district eighty two. This my amendment my bill in the amendment involves of the where the funds from the fines on this bill would be place regionally was going to go to the public health trust fund which my understanding is there's an adjustment consumer we don't have the we don't have them Amendment you don't have the amendment. Engrossed okay answer gross not going okay so the amendment is changing that fund to the fund at the. Well the long title is a long title but it's a the state crime drug state drug crime enforcement prosecution grant fund used by the the FNA thank you and and that's to fund our drug task forces because the drug task forces have some severe needs right now and they need the money much more than that the public health trust fund so So as engrossed we don't need to make a motion to so. Blazon German since two thousand eighteen there been eleven thousand one hundred seventy four citations written for speeders exceeding a hundred miles an hour on the Arkansas highways some of the fastest you might be surprised that the fast this is one hundred ninety two one ninety six and one ninety seven. since two thousand eighteen the number of citations for speeders over a hundred miles an hour has triple. The rule of law on our highways has become extinct nobody's paying attention to speed limits in the numbers that I'm giving you these are the ones is being caught there's a lot of the fly past me every day that hasn't been caught in two thousand twenty Arkansas is credited with having that third highest rise in traffic deaths in the United States. There been two thousand nine hundred fifteen traffic but how these in Arkansas since two thousand and eighteen. Crazy people are driving deadly weapons and killing innocent people it's and it's quite frankly it's just gotta stop we have to do something about it it's not only killing our loved ones but is putting those at risk that protect our lives our state law enforcement officers and and these numbers that I've given you that's not just on the on the interstate two thousand of those citations are written on highways throughout the state of Arkansas not on interstates. The days of pleading down a reckless driving citation and local traffic court it just doesn't work is not working they've been doing it ever since I was started driving it sixteen years old to go to court you have a fine the judge or the prosecutor pleads it down and you walk away with a small fine so we've we've got to get away from that we have to get people's attention we create laws for two reasons one is to deter bad behavior and the other one is to hold people accountable that choose not to follow the laws. This bill has the support of a Arkansas chiefs of police association and sheriffs association prosecutors Association in the district judges association I work with. Excuse me the. District judges to insure I changed the language from shall to may on the Community Service because quite honestly a lot of the District Court they just not do not have the manpower to monitor community service so that's been given an option to the District Court judges and they were very receptive to that so essentially what the bill is going to do if you're twenty five miles an hour over the posted speed limit is going to cost you an additional two hundred fifty dollars in fines and those funds go to the DTF task force if you're going thirty five miles an hour over the posted limit is going to cost you additional five hundred dollars and if you're going forty five miles an hour over the posted speed limit is going to cost an additional thousand dollars so I'm hoping that this is a deterrent but there to get people's attention and they'll they'll start to abiding by the law would be able to protect the citizens of of the State of Arkansas and with that being said we have to take any questions. Good questions remain. Group president caller you're recognized is subject to the limit I've got I've got a board you have got to go by all right. Whitaker. Thank you Mr a representative barrier and you got a good list of people who are you work with on this I was wondering if where the Arkansas state police them on this bill what typically the as a my colleague go to representative Tosh will tell you they they don't take a stand on the any law enforcement Bills but the data that I. Resented this morning came from the Arkansas state police data files. Follow please follow reacted to clarify and I understand that they don't yea or nay on bills but you work with them and you've got the data from them and they have had opportunity give you input on this bill oh absolutely okay that's what loosely thank you. Resent Shepherd you're recognized question thank you Mr chairman representative so I'm new to this process removes Shepherd you put your money down just a little bit with any thank you thank you okay thank you I'm if I heard you correctly in the beginning you stated their current laws that are not being enforced as it relates to speeding. No I'm sorry if I misspoke but the I believe what I meant to say was that their current laws that are not being followed there being in force as result eleven thousand citations the the laws are not being followed. So this motion according to this bill the laws aren't being followed but we're going to increase the amount in order for the laws to be followed. I know if I had to pay an additional thousand dollars for speeding I would probably start following the law. Okay so this is a a deterrent of to get people to. Follow the speed limits but if they choose not to follow the speed limits then it will be of they'll have to pay the price okay thank you thank you. President Senator recognized question what's the current penalties for stating This Is additional finds what's what's the current ones that I'm is for different different speeds I don't know what all the fines are but really those fines aren't working and so that's one of the additional fines are there because you can go into court if you're driving twenty miles over our over you know the the fees vary by jurisdiction and that that the could be played down so it is really hard to say what the fees are but these are additional fines regardless of what the other fees are. Follow follow. Is there any data so the difference between in state driver's first out of state drivers on this I don't have any of that data thank you. Representantes recognized. Thank you thank you Mr chair representative berry I understand and. The your intent here and where you want to go and and the. But you know already we over the years we've added so many different the sources of revenue sources to people that are speeding are violating the law that now would someone is stopped for speeding violation of the time you had the finding the court cost I mean. The way is sometimes you're looking at three to four hundred dollars already and and that's not been able to the **** I think you know visibility of law enforcement on that highway and you know if we if we make that a priority which I think we're moving in that direction to do so but adding these additional calls and I just want to I just want to say this and and and hopefully you'll understand this and the people in this room we but you know it's easy to say that sometimes as legislators have passed legislation that increases these fines and increases the calls but I will tell the when you walk other here than the difficult difficult part comes when you're out on the side of the road is a law enforcement officer and you look at that individual and you know that the fines in the cost of everything now or exceeding five hundred to a thousand dollars and you realize that when you write that ticket of what kind of you know what we actually do and I mean are you cost in that family a month's rent or are able to buy groceries and and you know I mean if the financial reasonable and the cost is reasonable then the enforcement will come by you will. The more up applied by law enforcement because it's difficult sometimes and we have to really be careful representative berry and I'm getting to a question Mister chairman but we really have to be careful. Not to impose these fines to the point that would even deter law enforcement officers from riding the ticket because they know the run reasonable and if we're not careful. Of. That's what we're going to end up doing and I think somebody mention logo you know there's already a law on the books and I don't know if it ever being played down if it is that's this court system is not law enforcement not to legislative body but there's a reckless driving charge I've used it many times over the course of the years when somebody was going to won't disregard. For those others out on the highway that charges there that's a class A. misdemeanor with a thousand dollar fine my memory serves me correctly so my question to you is. Is this really a way to deter or. Of. Speeding and possibly reduce fatalities up or are we just. Can I contributing to the problem by passing this type of legislation when we increase finds that going to be because law enforcement officer to be more reluctant to write those individuals take it's because it's just going to be overwhelming till when they reach trying to pay a thousand dollars in the end up back in our court system and end up back and failure to appear and end up in jail and instead of being able to gold so what are your thoughts on that represents about. I have to respectfully disagree with the representative Tosh because when a person is going a hundred ninety seven miles an hour or person is going a hundred fifty miles an hour they know that they are breaking the law and of the the point being is people have to be held accountable for their actions it's just like if somebody's gonna we we have we have laws to deter people from criminal actions just like we have laws to try to deter people from committing murder committing any any breaking the laws so we we as youngsters we grow up in our families understanding that if if I'm not gonna be what my mother father tells me or what the law says I'm going to pay a penalty is a privilege to drive on Arkansas highways there's a posted speed limit and if you choose to violate that law then you're gonna be held accountable for your actions and out again I will say. This bill has the support of the chiefs of police association the sheriff's association prosecutors association in the district judges association because they believe in the rule of law in if we do not do something about it Arkansas will continue to grow from the third highest from high with the tell the east to the number one in this is a a method in order to be able to do that. Senate broke. Okay I'm I'm real real confused our. Okay thank you Mr it's hard it's fall the. B. catches thank you Mr president Carl on the the lines that have the. Changes in the fees do we know the last time that these fines were were raised. Not sure don't that representative call catcher it in turn on that conversation around deterrence. What you're saying makes sense to me what are some good sources to look at in terms of like have we seen in other states when we go to certain thresholds of fines and the response in the change of driving behavior from that's kind of the way I'm thinking about it is it makes sense punishment as acts. It's behavior changes and I you know I heard some of the statistics that that you put Have you seen any studies out there that have been helpful to kind of guide your your thought process online thank you represent McCollum and I haven't seen any studies in relation to that but we're the idea from this bill came from the state of Georgia which in and I visit with the chairman hawking one and also in the state of Georgia they not only find you that thousand dollars they take your license for six months and I don't if you take some an individual's license they can't go to work they can't pay the fines anyway so this is not meant to just crucify somebody it is there as a deterrent and to get their attention we don't want to take their driver's license or the privileges away from we just want them to obey the law and follow the speed limit so that's why this is a very mild version of what some of the other states are doing thank you thank you. Resistirme Sir correct yes thank you Mr chair representative very I have just one quick question how will this impact municipalities with the city ordinances for speeding. Well if somebody. Breaks the law there they will have they will be able to charge those fines as well in in at that point income is between the prosecutor and the judge you know the judge just like they do with reckless driving they can always plea it down you're going there and you know you've you've played your soul to the prosecutor and to the judge and then they can do whatever they want. I have a follow up Mr follows in a lot of the city ordinances when you do get fines for speeding it does not give the threshold that that was that infraction was four how would they know which to find those folks for for the speed limit you know me fraction well I don't know what the municipality you know there's so many different ones and and debit depend upon the courts but I would I would say that was going to be up to the District Court or the municipal judge in order to make that determination. Thank you represent America thank you. Thank you you're recognized question. Thank you Mr chairman representative very um as someone who is gotten his fair share of experiences to take the defensive driving courses over the years I wanted to ask In your talks with the judicial. Members and judicial system in general are they currently not able to assess these finds in their own independent judgment I do see that you say the sentencing court shall assess which means that they will basically have the backdrop and the confidence to make these because it is a requirement by law currently in that scenario or judges. Prevented from assessing these fines already at their purview well the finds everything are left up to the district courts in the municipal court judges whatever whatever their fines are in place and I don't know what those are these are additional fines that would end up going into the you know the fund that I was telling you about. Follow up question. Are there any concerns that you have after speaking to law enforcement and the judges from changing that shall to a may assess. Well a. Yes NO I did change of the shall to A. R. shall to may for the Community Service but none of the other a day agencies I mention the support of this bill and I spoke with the prosecutors association yesterday in the District Court judges and they're good with the bill the way it's written so in in your opinion research they would prefer to have the confidence of this saying that they shall do it rather than it be their individual purview well I'll tell you this I've talked to all of these in the District Court judges and the prosecutors association and nobody mentioned anything to me about changing that okay thank you. Any other questions. Anyone here to testify for against the bill. Seeing none to bury your clothes I'm close thank you. I make a motion for do pass okay I have a motion for do pass any discussion. Our. Representative Whitaker you're recognized thank you Mr representative hi I share your concern about the incredible express acids B. we've seen the claim the last two or three years witnessed it myself on the United States and and yes even on state of secondary state highways. I'd I'd just have to deferred to agree to my colleagues Representative Tosh Some of the things some of the method you're using here and. I think this is one of those bills could use a little bit more working at one time in a broader discussion with people who expressed concerns here today I don't think anybody here doesn't want to fix this problem but we don't want to create three other problems while we're doing it so for today I'm going to be a member. Representantes you're recognized thank you Mr not agree and and represent very I appreciate the intent of the US but just looking at it from the other side I think that the laws that we already have on the books are sufficient I think Just making sure that we have officers out there to enforce the laws I thank the bill's ability of that and that's the approach we need to take I thank the fives of the calls that already be assessed by a court as in regards to the speeds that people are running when they are called by law enforcement I think everything that I've heard of those are sufficient and other like I said there's already a reckless driving charge to deal with those that already says each baby then that's up to a thousand dollars a year in jail so I think we have the laws there I think it's a matter of enforcement and I think it's when we need to focus your attention and I would say that the Dysport we need to not increased each client. Okay saying no other questions. We'll take the vote all in favor of Passing house bill. Ten eighty seven say aye. All opposed say aye. All opposed say no excuse. representative thank you pretty obvious. All right thank you. Next the represent no offense resent Collins but I have had told of representative Cavenaugh she can go it she's got other bills run another committee so resent Cavenaugh if you will come and present the house bill eleven fifty you may editions Deffenbaugh C. thank you Mr chairman of Fran Cavanaugh representative district thirty this is just a bill that will extend the time for you to license a vehicle from thirty days to sixty days that's really all that it does the impact statement for the bill rate down and it says that the that's a shift of revenue that's all it is is yes the revenue for thirty days we're not reducing taxes were not he change in the right people are going to pay on their taxes we're just giving him thirty extra days to do it. if any of you tried to license a vehicle you understand that sometimes there's some problems getting your titles in time in that thirty day window this will allow you more time to be able to do that and represent Carol go ahead with me in my do your amendments described as we pass it out amendment is real simple is acting it is just adding like Senator Blake Johnson as the co sponsor on the Senate side okay hang on just a minute we'll get that passed at the this. Okay everyone has a copy amendment can I get a can I get a motion do pass on the amendment. I have a motion to passing discussion all in favor say aye okay you may proceed thank you sorry about that but so um this is just the senate bill that allows us thirty extra days a license vehicle. Okay. A any questions from committee members. Okay. President will occur you're recognized thank you Mr representative Cavenaugh real quick easy question wants to seem so familiar we ran it last session we passed it out of the house and did not make it out of Senate thank you you're welcome. Representantes. Well that was my question because I know in the last session you appear before committee and and was running a bill and I remember telling you that I thought it would be a great idea if we would I would if we can extend the time that people were allowed because the issues that were having without state financial institution being able to get that lane and I thought you came back about that I thought we passed it so I was black representative winner got a little confused why we run is bills so then we extended from thirty to sixty days before no Sir we did in the House it passed the house on the floor but it did not make it out of the Senate last session okay. One follow up Mr chairman of a break up. In on the language then we passed out of the house before is this not the same identical language in this bill because I noticed something this bill representative Cavenaugh all that it said that the clock would start I guess you should say on the sixty days from the time that the individual receive the release of their lane so I thought that's the way that was worded it's kind of towards the end we don't have any paper bills here to go buys Elliott yes that that was already existing language all this is doing is changing from thirty to sixty that was already existing language in the in the statute so I haven't changed any of that language okay well other bill I think that you might be talking about is I ran a bill that went from forty five days to sixty days that allows you when you have a vehicle and you sell it you can go back to the state and ask for created on the new one that you purchased that did pass both the house and the Senate so we now have sixty days to correct to claim that credit. But the one that actually allows you to license for sixty days did not make out of both chambers did make it out Senate what and yes Sir. Three and we already had language in there because. I didn't remember that language because it concerns me a little bit that we're allowing someone sixty days from the day they receive the lane and you know as well as other representative that sometimes those lanes from out of state financial institutions with those lanes are being helped sometimes it takes weeks for the poor ever to get those back here for that land to be released and it just extends that period of time I guess my concern is that I I know this was already but how does law enforcement supposed to know how are they able with their own a traffic stop how do they know based on what we're reading your news bill today how will they know when that person received that lane and when that clock started and when that person is actually in violation of laws that question makes sense yes all. I'll try to answer it now just so I haven't changed any of that that's pre existing low white I believe that it currently works and I only know this because we have a finance company also. When we release the lean on the title re put that date that we actually released it so it could be that it was released two weeks before it got mailed to the bank from the bank to the law to the person that paid off and it could be another week it's lost in the mail before it gets returned to you so the date of the lien release is usually right on the front of the title so that's what it is but for practicality purposes what most people do is look at when we fill out the paperwork on the the sale of the vehicle we put the day that is sold and that's usually what they go by when we issue the temporary tags it'll have an expiration date what this will do is allow us to put that expiration date out not thirty days but sixty days. Perfect okay and I know of anybody can answer that question you may use so thank you no problem Class. Mmhm president Senator is recognized question thank you Mr a person cannot. I'm sentence build up to me kind of encourages financial responsibility because in my opinion when you go to purchase the vehicle so you have all your ducks in a row and be ready to pay a sales tax and gets license within thirty days well that's simple for you to say. If you're a person with. Good income good credit when you're a person with limited income and your credit is a little bit dicey it's taking you every bit of money that you've got probably to put a down payment on a car plus get the insurance because your insurance is probably going to be higher so some of those people the lowest. Our cans and income or cans and see a little extra time but the real issue have that is a dealer we can't get you the title in thirty days. Because we don't get the title back from lien holders for forty five so you're already out of compliance so you're already paying penalties of fines which most reputable dealers end up paying for the customer because it's not their problem. This and this bill will allow us to be able to actually license the vehicle in a more timely manner based on what the conditions of the of the business is it's not the dealers fault that we can't get a title it's not your fault because you can't get a title so why are we penalizing two different industry or industry in a person or something without their control we sixty days will give you that opportunity to be able to do it now most are Kansans licensed as soon as I get the title so it's not that there there's a bunch of people running around out there without license and the vehicle. So this really does help to people help the lowest. Income our Kansans but it also helps the everyday Arkansans who can't get their title and not pay a penalty or fine to the state of Arkansas for something they can't control thank you you're welcome. Inspirer recognized thank you Mr chair representative Cavenaugh I have a limited measures background and course prior to this most insurance companies have yeah thirty day window with purchase of a new vehicle to ensure that that said vehicle that they purchased so how will this impact that because that window now could shift from thirty to sixty days and is there is an amendment or provision possibly to allow insurance to extend further because I know with the way the you know shelter in a lot of mutual company to filed you just have that thirty day window select could leave some a potential customers out there without insurance unknowingly just assuming that they would have insurance as long as a they had those temporary tags well that's up to the consumer and that's really up to the insurance company if they wish to have their policy to have that ability to go sixty days this doesn't really affect that but you gotta realize dates whether you've got the title or not you can go to your insurance company and add that to your policy you don't have to have your title to do that so that really doesn't affect it at all. Yes I know I understand that it might my concern is there would be just some confusion amongst the consumers that would just assume their insurances cover for that sixty days because I can't tell you how many folks I have seen come is like I know I have thirty days because that's when my temporary tags run out and they may just assume so what I would like to see hopefully something essentially that will show these customer my personal vehicle that they have just thirty days still honor insurance anyway may have sixty because I do see the value in your and your your bill here yeah they might have to be run under a different statute it would not be in this statute yes ma'am yeah I'll project but I understand the issue yes yes ma'am reshaped I know from. Resume Carl recognized for a question thank you Mr chairman sorry conducted a moment on my on my phone in the beginning of the discussion It was on the conversation of this looking familiar or or not at if this is something that we've worked on before what was the debate on the Senate side in terms of concern that it wasn't and I cannot tell you what the Senate the concern once I can explain the Senate in their their reasoning I wish I could but I can't explain it got that okay and I'm not trying to be funny rude I'm just being honest at I can explain it to you. Representantes thank you Mr chair. Representative Cavenaugh it am our previous discussion I think the bottom line is the is the reason we want to extend is for sixty days is that in the past we place residents of the state of Arkansas in a position at the end of thirty days they had to make a choice they either had to park their vehicle because they were unable to get a lease release of release from some out of state financial institution and there was a delay so at the end of thirty days they they had to park their vehicle are they had rather that be could be a cool and be in violation of the law and so what you're doing with this bill and what we tried to do in the last session is extended for sixty days to allow them from to make sure they were not put in that position whether they could driver violate the law which is unfair to the residents of this state because of statutes we passed to applaud you for bringing the is and if I'm wrong about my assessment of this bill and why you're doing it I apologize but that's way I see it and I like to serve you thank you thank you. Seeing no other questions from committee is there anyone here to speak for against the bill. Region Karen are your clothes I'm would create a good vote this is good for the citizens of the State of Arkansas thank you. This spring are you gonna make a motion I am with my bacon make a motion as amended I move that we accept this of. Presentation by accident of representative Cavenaugh for mobile is amended I do pass we have a we have a motion to do pass as amended any discussion all in favor say aye hi he opposed no hearing none resolution bill also much. Representative calling. Would you introduce yourself and you may go ahead and begin with H. B. eleven oh one. Thank you Mr chair thank you Committee so a couple days ago general Barry was in here had a bill and mentioned that there was gonna be a companion bill and this is that companion bill his bill which passed at a hearing out of the house was to require that the disabled veteran plate had to have yet I also have a placard if you want to park in a handicapped spot it really does complement what this bill does which is a little bit different going to sort of what this one does I had a constituent who is a veteran and he brought up to me which I didn't realize that it under current law you can only have a disabled veteran plate if you've thirty percent or greater disability and he asked you know is this what we want to be sent as a state that people or ten percent or twenty percent disabled or somehow less deserving of the honor of having this plate then people who were thirty percent rate of disabled and that made sense to me that the scene like an arbitrary cut off point but a course I didn't want to just jump in I wanted to make sure first and foremost that this was something that veterans wanted I'm not a veteran myself I wanted to make sure that there wasn't some reason I was missing I did talk to the Arkansas veterans coalition about this they pull their membership there was all positive or neutral responses there was no negative responses are people who want to keep it at thirty percent spoke with senator Wallace he was enthusiastic about the bill signed on as the Senate sponsor for this the other aspect though if courses what general berry brought up which is that under current law you could you know until this bill it that he brought you could park in a handicapped spot with your disabled veteran play and for some veterans thirty percent or greater or thirty percent or less that made sense because they also have mobility issues for some veterans that didn't make sense whether third percent. Writer thirty percent less so with the two bills together what we'll do is make sure that the parking is limited to people have the mobility issues but if this bill is passed we won't have the distinction between the thirty percent or greater and the below thirty percent which is an arbitrary distinction and and to me insufficiently recognizes the sacrifices of the veterans have been disable that the ten or twenty percent level so that's what the bill does happy to answer any questions. Any questions from committee. Seeing none anyone here to speak for against the bill. Recalling clover thank you I'm close. What's will of committee. Sentai. Right of a recommendation do pass in discussion all in favor say aye opposed say no hearing on regulation bill passed thank you I see no other business come before this committee I'm not sure about what will we will be Tuesday or not if we don't we don't have any more bills added to the docket we possible me but just look at your computer thank you for your attention day thank you for cooperation Stanage earned.