Bill to let cities mirror hands‑free law draws law‑enforcement support, questions on enforcement limits
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Summary
Representative Jeff Ranetti presented a bill to correct statutory language that prevents some municipalities from enforcing the statewide hands‑free cell‑phone law; municipal chiefs testified local courts move faster and electronic citation systems now limit routing to municipal court.
Representative Jeff Ranetti (District 123) told the Committee on Crime and Public Safety that House Bill 20‑55 is intended to fix a drafting problem in the state hands‑free law so that municipalities may adopt identical local ordinances and enforce them in municipal court rather than routing cases to county prosecutors.
Ranetti said the hands‑free law passed in August 2023 and went into effect Jan. 1, 2025, but a language issue in section 10 of the current statute limits municipal ability to have a mirroring ordinance. "This bill would fix a small language loophole in statutory law," Ranetti said, arguing the change would reduce burdens on county prosecutors and allow municipal courts to adjudicate local traffic matters.
Chief Scott Craig of Sunrise Beach and other municipal chiefs testified in support, saying municipal courts handle traffic matters more quickly and that state prosecutors and courts are overburdened. Craig told the committee that current citation and electronic‑filing systems prevent municipalities from easily directing hands‑free violations to local courts and that sending cases through the state process increases paperwork and reduces enforcement.
Members asked whether the change could allow municipalities to convert the offense from secondary to primary enforcement; Ranetti said municipalities would be required to mirror state law and could not impose stricter penalties or change offense classification. Representatives also probed whether motorists who receive citations while traveling through different municipalities would have to appear in the issuing municipal court (Ranetti said yes).
The hearing closed with multiple municipal law‑enforcement witnesses and traffic officials backing the change and urging technical fixes to citation systems. No committee vote on HB 20‑55 was recorded in this transcript.