Bill Description: House Bill 610 would increase fines and impose possible jail time for certain traffic offenses.

Rating: -2

NOTE: House Bill 610 is similar to House Bill 535, introduced earlier this session.

Does it directly or indirectly create or increase penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for nonviolent crimes? Conversely, does it eliminate or decrease penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for non-violent crimes?

House Bill 610 would amend Section 49-1422, Idaho Code, to increase the penalty for unlawfully passing a stopped school bus by 50% from $200 to $300 for the first offense.

(-1)

Under current law, the penalty for a second offense within 5 years is a fine of "no less than" $400 and the penalty for a third or subsequent offense within 5 years is a fine of "no less than" $600.

House Bill 610 would remove these tiers and set the financial penalty for a second or subsequent offense within 5 years at a minimum of $600 and a maximum of $1,000. The bill would allow an offender to be sentenced to "imprisonment in the county jail" for up to 6 months.

It is problematic that this bill imposes mandatory minimum fines because it is always possible for extenuating circumstances in a specific case to make a mandatory minimum sentence manifestly unjust. This means that mandatory minimum sentencing laws fundamentally subvert the notion of justice, which requires broad judicial discretion regarding sentencing.

It is also important to recognize that the enhanced penalties called for by this bill aren't limited to cases where harm is inflicted. Incarceration is an excessive penalty for a traffic offense that inflicts no harm and has no victim to restore.

(-1)