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Memorandum
TO: Mayor Steve Burkholder
Lakewood City Council
FROM: Janet Young, Deputy City Attorney
Office of the City Attorney
DATE: February 3, 2005
SUBJECT: Penalties for Driving Without Compulsory Insurance
The police department is proposing that an ordinance be presented to City Council that updates the Lakewood Municipal Code's compulsory insurance provision to reflect changes made this past legislative session to the state penalties for driving without compulsory insurance. Under state law, the minimum penalty for a first offense for driving without compulsory insurance has been raised from one hundred dollars to five hundred dollars; half of which may be suspended if the defendant has obtained compulsory insurance by the time of the sentencing. For a second or subsequent offense within five years, the minimum fine has been raised from two hundred dollars to one thousand dollars, half of which may be suspended if the defendant has obtained compulsory insurance by the time of sentencing. Under state law, these increased penalties became effective for all offenses occurring on or after January 1, 2005.
While the state statute mandates that the fines are mandatory minimum penalties, the proposed ordinance revision does not track the state statute. Judge Elliott met with the Management Team to discuss whether the increased fines should be a mandatory minimum or if the municipal judges should retain their discretion. The decision of Management Team was that the proposed ordinance should contain discretionary language.
In addition to increasing the fines, the legislature mandated that fifty percent of the fines collected be transferred to the law enforcement agency that issued the ticket for no proof of insurance. The proposed amendment would mirror state law by requiring that half of the fines collected for violations of the compulsory insurance law go to the police department. Therefore, it is being recommended that fifty percent of the fines collected for this traffic offense would be transferred to the general fund in support of the Lakewood Police Department.
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