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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 7, 2013 03:57 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Ronald G. Waters |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Legislation Supporting E-Citations |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation creating a dedicated funding source in support of law enforcement for the procurement and corresponding costs of electronic citations. Around the country, police and sheriff’s departments are increasing their use of electronic citations (“e-citation”). These are citations that are printed and given to the motorist at a traffic stop, rather than hand written, and stored in a digital format that can be incorporated into overall court document management systems. E-citation enables law enforcement officers to more quickly issue citations, spend less time along the roadside in “harm’s way” and concentrate more fully on the stop. This increased officer safety is incredibly important and inevitably saves lives. In addition to increasing officer safety, e-citation also aids state and local courts by reducing data entry and other processing costs. With e-citation, fewer citations are successfully challenged and already overstretched court schedules enjoy greater efficiency. Furthermore, the public can be assured that issued citations are legible, free of handwriting errors and not impacted by the weather (we have all seen the parking ticket on someone’s window that has been damaged, if not completely destroyed, by the rain and the frustration that comes with having to figure out what it said and how to pay the citation). My proposal is based upon a model law from Illinois (Public Act 096-1210) and establishes a definition for “electronic citations” and adds a $5 fee to citations to support e-citation procurement. This legislation should not have any impact on the state budget and should receive strong support from local governments, state and local law enforcement, sheriff’s departments, district magistrates and court administrators. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. If you have any questions, please call my Harrisburg office at 717-783-4090). Thank you for your consideration. |
Introduced as HB1919