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Lawmakers restore 'broken bone' to vehicular‑assault definition in committee amendment
Summary
A committee amendment to House Bill 3‑59 rewrote the statute to expand the definition of serious bodily injury for vehicular assault to explicitly include broken bones, correcting a previous omission; the amendment was adopted and the bill passed on final consideration.
Chairman Hicks, presenting the Finance/Ways and Means Committee amendment to House Bill 3‑59, said the change restores broken bones to the statutory definition of serious bodily injury for vehicular assault after a prior unintended drafting change removed it.
"This fix is a glitch that we created a couple of years ago where serious bodily injury for vehicular assault did not include broken bones," Hicks said, describing the amendment as a restoration rather than a substantive policy change. Chairman Clemens asked clarifying questions about the effect; members adopted the committee amendment and later passed the bill on final consideration.
Sponsor remarks emphasized statutory correction rather than a new penalty structure. The amendment and final passage were recorded during the day's business.
