Public Transportation- House
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Bills discussed (3)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1115
Act 389
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…AMPS ARE REQUIRED ON CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES AND VESSELS. HB1115 Wardlaw TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE WEIGHT THRESHOLD FO…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE WEIGHT THRESHOLD FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES. | Wardlaw | Notification that HB1115 is now Act 389 |
|
HB1265
Act 264
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…CERNING THE WEIGHT THRESHOLD FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES. HB1265 Boyd TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL PASSING OF A…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL PASSING OF A SCHOOL BUS. | Boyd | Notification that HB1265 is now Act 264 |
|
HB1022
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1022 C. Fite TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING WHEN LIGHTED LAMPS ARE…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING WHEN LIGHTED LAMPS ARE REQUIRED ON CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES … | C. Fite | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
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Chair
Unverified
0:00
Good evening, everybody. Chair sees a quorum. Just a reminder, those wishing to speak for or against the bill, please sign in. Representative Feit, Charlene Feit, are you present? representative you are recognized to present your bill
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
0:31
thank you mr chairman i would like to call to the table with the chair's permission my witness yes go ahead you're
Chair
Unverified
0:43
recognized if you would state your name I'm going to ask
Jeff O'Brien
Unverified
0:53
you to also please speak into your mic, okay? There we go. It's on now. My name is Jeff O'Brien, captain of the Prairie Grove Police Department.
Speaker 8
1:01
Appreciate it. Thank you. You're recognized.
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
1:07
Go ahead, Representative. Thank you so much. Captain O'Brien approached me several months ago about this
bill, an issue of cleaning up the language, making it more clear exactly when lights need to be on vehicles. As you know, most of our vehicles now, most of our cars and trucks, have lights that come on automatically. Older cars and vehicles do not.
Current law says 30 minutes before sunrise, 30 minutes before sunset, or after sunset. is really tricky, difficult, requires doing math for people. So Colonel O'Brien asked me if we could change this and make it more clear and just say between the time from sunset to sunrise and then leave in the language that says or any other time when there is insufficient light to render clearly discernible
persons at a distance of 500 feet. And that's all this does. Gary Sipes with the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police reported that they have no issues with this bill. State Police Captain Bill Bryant said they are not in opposition to this bill. So I would appreciate your giving us a good hearing today. Okay.
Speaker 6
2:29
If the witness would you like to comment? Or do you have any comments on the? Go ahead.
Speaker 16
2:40
So in my career, I've worked a few accidents where the state age of Arkansas is growing, our roadway systems are becoming congested with traffic, speed limits have increased. increased. And with the automatic headlights that have been in effect, and I'd say at least since 2005 that I could go back and see vehicles like Hondas and Toyotas that have the automatic lights. Most lights or headlights are on well before sunset and at least at sunset. And I think we've all driven down roadways where there's that one car who doesn't have their headlights on. You
can't see them. And this is a cause for a lot of accidents in my belief. And so this just changes the law where you take away the half hour, the math that is needed to be involved, and it matches some other states that we've looked at that have the simple wording of just sunset to sunrise. For example, tonight the sunset in the Little Rock is 535, and so if you are driving in Little Rock at 6 p.m. tonight, it's too dark to drive without headlights
in the congested roadways, but you're not driving against the law to do so. So this It just offers law enforcement a way to kind of help enforce those folks or to remind
Chair
Unverified
3:56
those folks they need to have their headlights on. Thank you, Mr. Whitaker. Committee members, I understand
Speaker 18
4:02
Representative Fielding, you have a question. You're recognized, sir. Yeah, you said, thank you, Mr. Chairman. You said, Captain, you said headlights, but did the bill specify headlights? I didn't see it before the bill specified headlights.
And I know there's already a law on the books for types of lights, whether it's going to be the, we call it park lights, or what's going to be the headlights. What lights are specified to be
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
4:37
on? Am I on? Yes, try it now. Okay, there we go. Yes, we just used the current law, did not change anything in that. just everywhere that it mentions lights, the only thing that we changed was sunrise to sunset.
I mean sunset to sunrise, excuse me. Everywhere in the code that mentions lights, we changed that. That was
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
5:08
the only wording that was changed. Representative Bryant, you recognize, sir. Thank you.
The only issue I see with this bill is I never took the half hour before or after to mean a set time because most people
don't know when exact time sunrise is or sunset is. Of course, I understand with the advent of the photo cell and the ability for vehicles to turn it on, but I took that as more of a window for drivers to have not flexibility to not turn them on but have a reason like oh I didn't know it was it was 542 I'm being pulled over so now there's really no flexibility given to the officer I know they have they do have always have flexibility to write that citation or not but doesn't this kind of take that away from the driver to have that flexibility because what
if their what if their vehicle's photo cell is is off um in the sense of you know it's it's not a finely tuned instrument that's certified every every year it's it wears out over time as it as as it does and what if it's always 10 minutes late um wouldn't this bill you know if the officer now knows at 535 sun is down at 536 i'm free to stop vehicles i was always told
if you have one headlight out it's an automatic stop just a reason for an officer to initiate to stop. Wouldn't this bill give
Speaker 16
6:38
an officer that ability? So in considering that, there is some things to consider there. That yes, it does offer the officer to make stops sooner. However, the half hour is a firm law. And so where it is right now is at 6 p.m. or
5.55 PM, 5.45 PM, when it is too dark for drivers to be driving, there is, the law forbids me from being able to make a probable cause stop on a vehicle for driving dangerously and putting others, you know, others in danger because they can't see that vehicle. And so this would move that time up simply to sunrise and sunset, which everyone is required to know now because they're not only they're required to know sunrise and sunset, they're required to know that plus the math, the 30 minutes after and the 30 minutes prior. And so this just simplifies the law
to sunrise, sunset. And, you know, today's a very clear day in here in Little Rock. So this evening will be the most light that you would see. But you add cloud into effect and, you know, 10 minutes after sunset, it's too dark to be driving with no headlights, for sure. Follow up. Yes, go
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
7:53
ahead, recognized. So I guess my question is still is it too dark 20 minutes after sunset i mean sunset is is i can't imagine while most
people i'm gonna say most people if not all people do not know when sunset is or when sunrise is so this would make it incumbent upon them to always know when sunrise is and sunset is with with zero ability for to have the defense of law enforcement hey you can't stop me because it's now 545 because arguably there still might be enough light because you might say there's not and I might say there is. To me, the existing law gives the driver that flexibility from the automatic
traffic stop if that officer feels the need for the stop. Is that a reasonable assumption that It says 30 minutes is too long, but 20 minutes is not. So my
Speaker 16
8:51
understanding of the law is that no, the current law does not allow the officers to discern. Because it says, and I'll read it here, it says that every motor vehicle has to have their lights on one half hour after sunset. And so, or, and then it says, or any other time when there's not sufficient light.
But the fact that it has put a clear marker at 30 minutes, which this evening would be 6.05 p.m., it means that at 5.50 p.m., 5.45 p.m. this evening, I cannot make a traffic stop regardless if I feel that it's too dark for headlights. So the current law doesn't allow an officer to do a discretionary stop, because if I stop a vehicle within that 30-minute window, I am violating their rights. I'm going against a probable cause stop, according to the way that I interpret the law.
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
9:41
To me, this removes the ambiguity. People don't have to look and see, or ask Siri, when is it going to be sunrise, and then figure out 30 minutes before, 30 minutes after. they just know at sunrise at sunset it's clear cut follow
up mr chair you recognize go ahead yeah i guess that's my
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
10:01
concern is is there is no ambiguity because the time is now sunset plus 30 minutes now i may not know when sunset is but i know 30 minutes after sunset it's going to be
pretty dark and i i probably deserve to get stopped at that point but if it's 10 minutes after sunset that I wouldn't feel like I need to be stopped because I didn't look at my clock and know exactly when I needed to have those headlights on. So I guess this build to me just, it initiates unnecessary traffic stops. And I get safety is paramount. Safety is the goal of your division. But at the same time, to me this puts a burden on drivers and not have the flexibility to have that window
of something that's subjective such as when is it too
Chair
Unverified
10:53
dark. Thank you. Representative Tollett, you're recognized.
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
10:59
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. In reading this law, and I understand that this is not what necessarily this bill does, but on line number 29 of the first page, it says,
shall have proper lights on all all-terrain vehicle or golf cart. Proper lights to me is not a very clearly defined term and I guess my my question is is who interprets what proper lighting is on on these things and whether it's on I mean is that just up for discretion like I mean it if for instance, I guess if I'm in a nice gated neighborhood and I'm driving past the time,
there's street lights, you know, every two houses, the area is well lit and I have like a little dinky light on the back of my golf cart versus it's completely dark. There's no street lights and I have a little dinky light on my golf cart. I mean, as far as proper lights are concerned, depending on, you know, even when the vehicle is being used, I guess who interprets that,
whether you actually have proper lighting at any given time? Well,
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
12:22
we are not making that change. The only thing that we are changing in the section you're referring to, 25 to 29, the underlined language is new, added in between the time and then the stricken language is taken out. So that part about the proper lights has nothing to do with this bill. If someone wants to address that in another bill, they could. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
12:56
Representative Whitaker, you're recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Motion at the proper time. At this time, committee members, any more questions? Representative Fite. Is there any, before I get ahead of myself,
is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak for or against this bill? Anybody else? Okay, I see no one representing a fight at this time. Would you like to close
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
13:41
for your bill? Yes, I appreciate your consideration of this and giving us a good hearing and I would appreciate
Chair
Unverified
13:56
a good vote. What are the wishes of the committee? We have a motion to pass, understand, from Representative Whitaker.
We have a motion to do pass on this. All in favor signify by saying yes. Those opposed, like sign. Motion carries. Congratulations, Representative Feit, your bill has passed this committee. Thank you, committee. Thank you, chair. Thank you, both of you. Representative Warlaw. Representative Warlaw, you're recognized to present your bill.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
14:44
Thank you, Mr. Chair. committee not a really easy bill probably one of the
easiest ones I have all session we have bill House Bill 1115 what it does is for the years and years we've regulated these two vehicles exactly the same which is not fair to these guys so what my bill does is take these guys out of the regulation and puts regulation on these guys, which is where it should have been all along.
So it's a D-reg bill, and with that, I'll be happy to
Chair
Unverified
15:29
take any questions. Are there any questions by the committee? And I understand that we do have someone in the audience that would like to come forward. We have Officer Bryant. okay we have representative bryant has a has a question at this time go ahead representative
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
15:50
bryant uh one section of your bill raises the the passenger load from 10 to 15. is
Speaker 27
15:58
that sideline does that correspond with with federal eggs
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
16:02
that does but that that also keeps us from getting into the bus regulations for like the schools and passenger buses public
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
16:11
transportation Okay, so the scenario would be if I have a 20,000-pound vehicle and it's got 12 seats. It's not going to fall into this category, but if I got 16 seats, it would.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
16:24
It would. Like a church bus would be a good example, a bigger church bus. Okay,
Chair
Unverified
16:33
is there anybody else that would like to speak for or against the bill? Members, anybody, any committee members have a question? We
Chair
Unverified
16:56
We have down Arkansas Highway Police Officer Jeff Bickerstaff, Major Jeff Bickerstaff. Do you have any comments? Would you desire to approach? Okay. Okay. Okay. I brought the department, Mr. Chair, in case we had
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
17:11
questions too technical for me to answer. Good job, good job. Representative Warlaw,
Speaker 6
17:15
would you like to close for your bill? I'm closed, Mr.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
17:21
Chairman. I'd appreciate a good vote. Okay.
Chair
Unverified
17:30
We have a motion to approve Representative Christensen. Any questions at this time? All in favor of passage of the bill, signify aye. Aye. Those opposed, like sign. Motion carries. Representative Warlaw, your bill has passed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee. Thank you.
Representative Boyd, I see you're on deck. You'll recognize
Speaker 57
18:13
when you get ready, okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, committee members. This bill was brought to me by school bus drivers. What I've learned since my first interaction is school bus drivers love their kids. They feel very responsible for their safety, and so there's a situation that takes place.
In fact, it happened twice yesterday. It was reported to me where there is public property and the school bus stops. They put out their sign, do the flashing lights, all this stuff. Cars just go around them. They don't ignore it. So they have reported this to the police, and it turns out that the police can't issue a citation. The police can't do anything because our current statute says that it's on public roadways. So in this case, it's the school resource center.
But when looking at it, I wanted to make it a little bit more clear because these are our kids, and we don't want them hit. We want to be proactive, not reactive, or that's my view, and I hope you share that. So what this bill does is it clarifies, again, roadways, that's on there. And two, like public property that's accessible to the – or private property that would be accessible to the general public. So, like, I'm thinking a museum parking lot, a mall parking lot, you know, something like that, and then, of course, school property.
So, that said, I'm hoping to try to answer any questions.
Chair
Unverified
19:41
Okay, with questions by the committee, we have, I have to put my glasses on here, Representative Bryant. You recognize,
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
19:49
sir? Representative Boyd, I think the overall essence of the bill is very good. I've got one major concern. We struck out the language while demonstrating a reckless disregard for the safety of passengers for the school bus, which obviously takes away, again, the flexibility of the officer to make the determination.
One thing that I've noticed in our community is divided roadways with trees and sidewalks, and maybe 20 feet of divided highway. would would your bill take the ability away from officer if he sees a vehicle in the in the opposing lane on on say it's it's all first street or it's all Arkansas Street but it's divided by 20 feet with with a tree every 10 feet and the driver's view is obstructed would would that take away the ability for him
to defend it saying I wasn't reckless you know I just couldn't see it that'd be my concern with
Speaker 57
20:51
this bill. Thank you for expressing the concern. I've thought about that as well. I'm not an attorney. I can't tell you how an attorney is going to interpret this, but no, I think the flexibility is completely there to be able to do that. In fact, in some ways, I would argue that there's more flexibility for the officer to make a judgment on that. So, I mean, it's a good question,
Chair
Unverified
21:17
and I have thought about that. Representative Bryan, if I may have the leeway here, Representative Boyd is correct on the discretion.
I have been involved several times, many, many times, working the morning traffic back in my younger days. And that officer's discretion, at times, it may lead to a traffic stop just to advise potentially unsafe driving practices. That verbal warning many, many, many times does just as good. So I'm just throwing that freebie in there, and I know you're aware of that, too, both of y'all. Thank you. Any more questions by the committee? We have a motion by Representative Hillman.
Any more discussion? Okay, Representative Tullet. Go ahead, sir. You're recognized. I just
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
22:04
want to say I've been a bus driver. I was a coach. I was a route driver. I'm a school superintendent. and I just want to say this. I mean, I don't have a problem with what you're trying to do here. The issue within the state of Arkansas that we have with the enforcement of people who rigorously pass school buses
is the ability to determine, number one, who is the person passing it And then also the law enforcement's willingness to be able to do that and then the prosecutor's ability or willingness to be able to prosecute it. So I'll give you an example of this. I've turned in, as a route driver, I would probably have two of these instances every day.
As a route driver, I don't always see who it is. I don't always have time to write down the license plate number, those kinds of things, to be able to turn the person in because I'm watching over the safety of my students. But if I did, and I did turn it in, then it's very unlikely that it's going to get prosecuted. So I actually did a little bit of research on this, And two years ago, I pulled however many tickets were written in the state of Arkansas for actually illegally passing a school bus.
And I learned that there's four counties in the entire state of Arkansas that do a really good job of enforcing this. And getting law enforcement to follow behind buses or watch out for this, I mean, if they're present, they can see it, they can handle it, and that's the best case scenario. If we're just having to report it, that's where it becomes problematic, even if you have video on the side of your buses, which we did. Out of the 20-some-odd reports that I've made to our local law enforcement, only one of those actually made to prosecution.
And so I'm all for what you're doing, and I'm very supportive of it. I think at some point in time, we need to look at the enforcement part of this and see what we can do to beef it up
Chair
Unverified
24:35
as well. Thank you, Representative Tollett. Any more discussion by committee members? Okay, we do have a motion on the table by Representative Hillman. We have a motion do pass.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. All right. Those against? Motion passed. House Bill 1265 passed. Let me just conclude here, if y'all will make a note on this, it's subject to change. Right now, there are no bills for Tuesday's meeting at this time, at this time. And I have to conclude this way here. all talking about safety and three different aspects here so needless to
say I have a pretty good drive ahead of me so everybody be careful going back home and have a wonderful weekend. Meeting adjourned.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle
HB1022 C. Fite TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING WHEN LIGHTED LAMPS ARE REQUIRED ON CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES AND VESSELS.
HB1115 Wardlaw TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE WEIGHT THRESHOLD FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES.
HB1265 Boyd TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL PASSING OF A SCHOOL BUS
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION- HOUSE, Jan 28, 2021 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Chair
Unverified
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
Jeff O'Brien
Unverified
Speaker 8
Speaker 6
Speaker 16
Speaker 18
Representative Joshua Paul Bryant
Unverified
Representative David Tollett
Unverified
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Speaker 27
Speaker 57