Early in today’s discussion of the bill, Chap Petersen proposed an amendment which stated —
2. “That by July 1, 2018, the Dept. of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the Dept. of State Police, shall develop a set of best practices for law enforcement agencies regarding the stopping of vehicles for alleged violations of the provisions of this act so as to (i) avoid profiling certain drivers based upon demographic characteristics and (ii) promote the even handed administration of justice.”
3. That the Dept. of State Police shall monitor and record all of the citations issued pursuant to the provision of this act and the relevant demographic characteristics of those persons cited. The Dept. shall submit a report with the results of such monitoring and recording to the Governor by Dec. 1, 2018.
Petersen’s amendment was obviously in response to opposition to the bill that had been reported to be expressed by the Black Caucus back while it was being heard in the House, who was concerned that it would give law enforcement an excuse to pull motorists over on the basis of racial profiling.
Sen. Carrico (a retired State Trooper) stated in discussion that this looked like another “unfunded mandate” being handed to the State Police who already are under staffed, under paid, and underfunded.
After some discussion, the Petersen amendment passed by 29-11.
Then some time later, after the bill had been “Passed by Temporarily” at the request of Sen. Obenshain, when discussion of it resumed, Sen. Norment proposed his amendment in obvious response to Sen. Carrico’s concern about an “unfunded mandate.” With Sen. Stanley surprisingly joining the the D’s, the vote on the amendment was 20-20, whereby Lt. Gov. Fairfax broke the tie with a nay vote, rejecting the amendment.
Than came a request to reconsider (Sen. Stanley apparently voted mistakenly) which was granted, and this vote was 21-19, along party lines, to accept the amendment.
Now with the amendment, the bill passed on the 29-11 vote .
At some point soon now, the fiscal impact of the bill will have to determined by the State Police and others, the result fed in to one of the budgets, and we will see if that kills the bill or not. If it is too high, it may. We shall see.
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