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Panel advances bill allowing authorities to mail citations to autonomous-vehicle owners
Summary
Rep. Freeman told members HB 2302 would let law enforcement send standard traffic citations to the company or registered owner of autonomous vehicles that violate traffic laws; the subcommittee advanced the narrowly tailored accountability measure to the full Transportation Committee after discussion about implementation and enforcement details.
Representative Freeman, sponsor of House Bill 2302, told the subcommittee current law lacks a clear mechanism to ticket autonomous vehicles when no driver is present and proposed allowing law enforcement to mail traffic citations to the registered owner or company that operates the vehicle.
"What this does is it gives us the ability to mail, a ticket, to the company that owns the vehicle," Representative Freeman said, framing the bill as an accountability measure rather than creation of new traffic offenses. Members asked practical questions about how to identify vehicles without plates, whether fines would mirror existing penalties, and whether the Department of Safety needs time to build a system to receive citations. Freeman said the bill is narrow — it does not create new traffic codes — and indicated he would accept friendly amendments (including an effective-date change or registration contact requirements) to help implementation.
The committee voted to send HB 2302 to the full Transportation Committee; members emphasized they were acting proactively to create enforcement mechanisms before driverless vehicles become widespread.
