The House and Senate passed HB 3271 late Thursday, aiming to hold suspended drivers responsible if they cause death or serious injury. Any driver who causes the death of or serious injury to another road user while continuing to drive after having been suspended or revoked for a prior criminal conviction could be charged with a Class C felony.

The new crime was added to another bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee through the efforts of Sen. Prozanski after the BTA met with him to ask that he move key provisions of the Vehicular Homicide bill (HB 3399). Sen. Prozanski worked closely with Rep. Barker, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to develop the amendments to HB 3271 which had already passed in the House and was under consideration in Sen. Prozanski's committee.

Sen. Prozanski suited up for the legislator bike ride at this year's Oregon Bike Summit. Photo by Jonathan Maus/BikePortland.org

While the bill is not as broad in its applicability to habitually dangerous drivers as we had hoped, we do believe that the establishment of the crime of Aggravated Driving While Suspended or Revoked represents an important step forward in holding these drivers responsible for their actions. We appreciate the leadership of Sen. Prozanski and the cooperation of Rep Barker in passing HB 3271. They have also agreed to continue to work on these issues during the interim and we look forward to continuing to work with them to explore other ways to make the roads safer for bicyclists and other road users and to hold drivers responsible for the harm that they cause.

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