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Senate approves House Bill 998 limiting citation dismissals after brief debate on officer accountability
Summary
The Senate passed House Bill 998 on third reading, changing when errors or omissions on police citations may justify case dismissal. A senator opposed the bill, arguing it could reduce accountability for officers and noting concerns about how missing information has affected cases for people experiencing homelessness.
The Senate approved House Bill 998 on third reading, changing the standards under which errors or omissions on police citations may be grounds for dismissal in court. The measure passed by voice vote with a recorded tally of 21 yeas and 2 nays.
A senator speaking in opposition said the bill addresses a problem in which citations now require 11 specific data elements and that omission of crucial details such as a social security number or an address has, in practice, allowed some citations to be thrown out. "In this bill I learned that police right now when they're giving you a citation, they have 11 requirements that they have to fulfill and 2 of those requirements are a problem. 1 of them is if they don't put your social security number on, or not the bill but the citation, they don't put the social security number on or your address that when they get to the, went to court it can be thrown out," the senator said. The same senator criticized language in the bill that would make an omission or error "not be grounds for dismissal as long as there's no prejudice," calling that change a step away from holding officers accountable: "We need to hold our officers accountable to doing their job with integrity and getting it right."
Supporters of the bill did not offer extended floor debate in the transcript; the Senate proceeded to a vote after the opposition remark. The clerks recorded the outcome as 21 ayes and 2 noes; the transcript notes two opposing votes but does not unambiguously identify the two members by name.
Separately, the Senate adopted standing committee report number 13-50 by motion of Senator Wakai, seconded by Senator DeCoite. The motion to adopt the report was carried without recorded opposition.
The transcript shows the bill moved through third reading and passed on the floor; no further direction or implementation steps for the bill were recorded in the provided excerpt.
