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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Miera

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/31/07

HB 362

SHORT TITLE Penalties for Failure To Yield Right of Way

SB

ANALYST Wilson

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.1

Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Corrections Department (CD)

Second Judicial District Attorney (SJDA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 362

The bill creates a new penalty in the Motor Vehicle Code for failure to yield the

right of way. The bill establishes penalties, upon conviction, according to two categories.

When the driver fails to yield, but causes no great bodily injury or death, the driver is guilty of a

misdemeanor. The punishment as set forth in current law is up to $300 fine or imprisonment for

not more than 90 days, or both

When the driver fails to yield, but causes great bodily injury or death, the driver is guilty of

fourth degree felony. The punishment as set forth in current law is18 months imprisonment, and

possibly up to a $5,000 fine.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There will be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution and documentation

of statutory changes. Any additional fiscal impact on the judiciary would be proportional to the

enforcement of this law and commenced prosecutions. New laws, amendments to existing laws

and new hearings have the potential to increase caseloads in the courts, thus requiring additional

resources to handle the increase.

House Bill 362– Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The SJDA has stated that when a victim receives death or great bodily injury by a vehicle

involved in a failure to yield or careless driving charge, there is currently no change in the

penalty from a petty misdemeanor violation. The penalty is the same as if there were no injury at

all. There is also a great disparity in a petty misdemeanor violation which jumps to a third

degree felony depending on whether the suspect driver was careless or reckless in his driving

behavior.

This bill addresses that disparity by providing a greater penalty for great bodily injury or death

when a suspect driver fails to yield or is careless in his driving behavior.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

There may be an administrative impact on the courts as the result of an increase in caseload or in

the amount of time necessary to dispose of cases.

DW/mt