House Bill 169: Municipal Impoundment & Forfeiture

House Bill 169 is a simple bill that grants the Municipalities of the State access to an additional tool for making their city streets safer. Currently, Municipalities are authorized to adopt local ordinances for impoundment or forfeiture of vehicles used in a variety of serious crimes, including driving while intoxicated, driving while license suspended and driving without insurance. House bill 169 simply adds accumulation of $1000 or more in unpaid fines for local traffic citations to this list.

Habitual offenders or scofflaws are not your average citizen with a ticket they just haven't gotten around to paying yet. They are repeat traffic offenders who have not only accumulated a high number of citations, but also continued to thumb their nose at the law by refusing to pay the fines that accompany their citations. These individuals exhibit a flagrant disregard for public safety with their continual violation of traffic laws and yet there are not adequate consequences to deter them from violating the traffic laws over and over.

In the Municipality of Anchorage traffic citations total $7.57 million dollars in unpaid fines. The individual with the most traffic citations has 70 totaling $7,853 in unpaid fines; the highest debt honors go to an individual with 43 citations totaling $9310 in unpaid fines. Currently, 1,071 individuals have over $1000 in unpaid fines, with an average of 5-6 unpaid citations. More than likely, they continue to drive, and continue to disobey the law.

This bill does not cost the State any money or any resources nor does it require Municipalities to seize the vehicles of their scofflaws. It simply allows Municipalities to use forfeiture as a way to encourage compliance with the law and timely payment of fines. The Municipalities can decide if this is a tool that will work for them, and how best to structure its usage.

I ask for your support of this important piece of public safety legislation.