Increasing Penalties for Driving Offenses (H 7630, S 2936)

We opposed a bill seeking to increase the penalties for a variety of driving offenses, noting that the approach of sending people to prison for longer periods of time and imposing steeper fines on offenders would not deter reckless driving nor assist in the rehabilitation of offenders. Instead, we argued, increasing these penalties would only divert limited financial resources away from approaches that would better address driving behavior. This bill passed the House, but died in the Senate.