Item 3: Ratification of IGR Committee Actions and Direction on Legislative Policy

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Allows surcharge on certain fees collected by Department of Transportation for reinstatement of driving privileges. Provides that surcharge be in amount determined by department to be necessary to pay costs of implementing Act. Sponsored by: Attorney General Hardy Myers for Attorney Generals Underage Drinking Task Force URL:http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measpdf/sb0200.dir/sb0224.intro.pdf ContactRespondentDept Updated Priority Policy Poli Numb Recommendation E Cushman S. Kamkar EPD-ADM 1/26/2009 Pri 2 Yes V. C1 Oppose Comments: ***Oppose as written; support if appropriately amended.*** We support the concept of this bill, introduced at the request of the Attorney General's Underage Drinking Task Force, to help reduce underage drinking by allowing for the suspension of the driving privileges of an individual who is cited for being a minor who purchases, attempts to purchase, acquires, or possesses an alcoholic beverage. We oppose the bill in its current form because Section 2 of the bill *requires* that, if a police officer cites a person for this violation, the officer *must* initiate the DL suspension process. This is essentially the same process that an officer initiates for an impaired driver, and is fairly time-consuming. This mandate is simply impractical in some cases, such as at a party situation where officers are dealing with numerous individuals. And it may also be impractical on a busy night where the officer must minimize his/her time on a call involving a minor in possession of alcohol because of other pressing calls for service. The net result will be that there will be situations in which, if this bill is enacted as written, the officer will simply not take enforcement action at all for the alcohol violation because of the requirement that, if s/he does so, s/he must also go through the driver's license suspension process. There is another drain on officer time (and an expense to the City) of officers being required to appear at administrative hearings where the person contests the suspension. This bill is arguably an unfunded mandate on local law enforcement. If Section 2 of the bill were amended to make this something that the officer *can* do--- rather than something s/he *must* do---we would support this bill. This would allow officers discretion to determine, in each individual circumstance, whether to take this additional step or not, depending on the amount of time s/he has to devote to this incident and his/her assessment of whether this individual needs the additional incentive to comply with the law. The needed amendments could easily be made by these changes on page 1 of the bill: Line 12, change "shall give" to "may give"; Line 17, change "shall issue" to "may issue." We believe that, with this change, the bill could become a valuable tool to fight underage drinking. Note: This bill is very similar to SB 208, except that SB 208 applies to those individuals 15- 20 years of age. SB 0230 Relating Clause: Relating to monetary obligations imposed as result of conviction. Title: Modifies method by which court clerk credits payments of monetary obligations imposed as result of conviction. Sponsored by: Attorney General Hardy Myers for Attorney Generals Restitution Reform Task Force URL:http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measpdf/sb0200.dir/sb0230.intro.pdf ContactRespondentDept Updated Priority Policy Poli Numb Recommendation Char Mauch CS-MUNI 1/22/2009 Pri 3 Support Comments: This change enables Municipal Court to disburse funds as our court management system allows. We are currently not able to correctly disburse these funds due to system constraints. 22