Z-1390               _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2575

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives McLean, R. Meyers, Ballard and Silver

Read first time 1/15/90 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

AN ACT Relating to nonappearance by occupant of motor vehicle; amending RCW 46.64.020; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 46.64.020, chapter 12, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 1, chapter 38, Laws of 1988 and RCW 46.64.020 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) The legislature finds that:

          (a) Traffic laws are necessary for the safe and expeditious flow of motor vehicle traffic.

          (b) For traffic laws to be effective, they must be judiciously and fairly enforced.  This enforcement includes the issuance of notices of infraction and citations and the assessment of fines and penalties.

          (c) The adjudication of notices of infraction through a written and signed promise to respond as provided in this title is an integral and important part of the traffic law system.

          (d) Approximately twenty percent of all people issued notices of infraction violate their written and signed promise to respond and obtain notices of failure to appear on their driving records.  Through their actions, these people are destroying the effectiveness of the traffic law system and undermining the department of licensing regulatory control of drivers' licenses.

          (e) Notices of failure to appear accumulated on a person's driving record shall be considered if they were issued after July 25, 1987.

          (2) Any person violating his or her written and signed promise to appear in court or his or her written and signed promise to respond to a notice of traffic infraction, as provided in this title, is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he or she was originally arrested or the disposition of the notice of infraction:  PROVIDED, That a written promise to appear in court or a written promise to respond to a notice of traffic infraction may be complied with by an appearance by counsel:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That a person charged under RCW 46.20.021 with driving with an expired driver's license may respond by mailing to the court within fifteen days of the violation,  a copy of the person's currently valid driver's license.  Any person who has been issued a notice of infraction pursuant to RCW 46.63.030(3) and who fails to respond as provided in this title is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the notice of infraction.

           (3) Any person who drives, or is an occupant of a motor vehicle within the state and has accumulated two or more notices of failure to appear on his or her driving record maintained by the department of licensing in any five-year period as a result of noncompliance with the traffic infraction laws in any jurisdiction or court within Washington, or in any jurisdiction or court within other states which are signatories with Washington in a nonresident violator compact or reciprocal agreement under chapter 46.23 RCW, shall be guilty of failure to comply, a gross misdemeanor.  A person is not subject to this subsection for failure to pay a fine for any pedestrian, bicycling, or parking offense.

           Probable cause for arrest under this subsection is established by the officer obtaining, orally or in writing, information from the department of licensing that two or more notices of failure to appear are on the person's driving record.

          Venue for prosecution shall be in the court with jurisdiction in the area of apprehension.