Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund
State Expenditures General Fund
FTE Position Change	0.0 FTE	0.0 FTE
Other State Impact: None
Effective Date: 90 days after adjournment unless a petition is filed
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: None
Local Government Impact: Increased fines from traffic infractions and class 2 petty offenses

The bill would clarify that counties may adopt the model traffic code. The bill also increases the fines allowed for class 2 petty offenses and traffic offenses from $600 to $1,000. It would also make county traffic infractions subject to the penalty assessment process. The penalty assessment process would allow a person to mail in fines for a county traffic citation with the specified fine and allow the county to reduce the points assessed against a person's driver's license.

Under current law, counties may adopt the model traffic code into their county ordinances. Since 1990, approximately 12 counties have adopted the model traffic code into county ordinances. In those counties, traffic citations issued by county sheriffs and filed in county court are county funds. However, some traffic citations remain matters of statewide concern and revenues generated from those citations are deposited into the Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF). For example, matters of statewide concern are citations issued for drunk driving, driving without a license, and truck weight limit violations. For counties that have not adopted the model traffic code, the fine revenue from all traffic citations issued by the county sheriff is deposited into the HUTF and the county does not receive the fine revenue. Since counties may already adopt the model traffic code as a county ordinance under current law, this bill would not have a fiscal impact on state HUTF revenues.

Allowing counties that have adopted the model traffic code to utilize the penalty assessment process would reduce the number of points assessed against a person's driver's license record. However, the number of times that county judges may currently reduce the point assessments is not known. The number of point reductions this bill would impact is not known. The impact this bill would have on driver's license suspensions and revocations would be insignificant.

Some counties have already adopted the model traffic code and enforce it under county ordinances. This bill would explicitly state that counties have that authority. Traffic infractions issued by a county sheriff would be subject to the penalty assessment process that allows for mailing in fines. Counties would be able to reduce points assessed against a driver's license when the fine is paid through the penalty assessment process.

Under current law, a person may request a jury trial for traffic infractions issued by a county sheriff under county ordinances. County courts would be able to adjudicate these cases faster and reduce county court time allotted these cases utilizing the penalty assessment process. The maximum amount of the fine imposed for a class 2 petty offense or a traffic offense would increase from $600 to $1,000. This may increase the revenues to a county depending upon the number of times a fine is imposed and collected in excess of the current $600 limit. Therefore, this bill is assessed as having a fiscal impact to county government.

This fiscal note implies that no additional state appropriation would be required.