Law enforcement asks committee to close a dismissal loophole for driving-under-suspension cases

The House Transportation Committee opened a hearing on House Bill 1422, a measure sponsored by Representative Anna Novak that would create clearer penalties for operating a motor vehicle while driving privileges are suspended or revoked.

Dan Ruby, a cosponsor, told the committee the bill was requested by a local police chief and said prosecutors and law enforcement see frequent situations where people drive while suspended and obtain quick reinstatement or seek dismissal in court, which creates little deterrent. Chief Frank Sen of Beulah described repeated traffic stops where drivers told officers they planned to “just go to court and ask to have it removed.” Sen said that arrests, reports and court time are expended with limited practical deterrent, and he proposed a statutory path to provide a monetary penalty and license-point assessment as a deterrent in appropriate cases.

The state agency that manages public defense, represented by Travis Fink of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigence, expressed concern about one subsection in the draft that would allow courts to reduce or change charges. Fink said the authority to reduce charges is prosecutor discretion and that the bill’s language in section 2 could create procedural issues and unintended penalty conflicts because some motor-vehicle penalties are already codified.

Representative Novak, arriving late for the hearing, said she and Chief Sen had met with defense counsel and that they planned to propose amendments addressing the concerns. Novak asked for time to draft a compromise and said she hoped to have amendments available to the committee by the following week so the committee could consider a refined proposal.

Ending: The committee kept the record open, heard both law-enforcement and public-defense concerns, and the sponsor said she would bring proposed compromise amendments within a week for committee review.