Student's drivers license suspension bill


Oklahoma House of Representatives
February 9, 2004

By MIKE W. RAY
House Media Division Director
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A student suspended or expelled for fighting, vandalism or bringing a weapon to school could lose his or her driver's license for a year or more, under legislation that received the tentative approval of a legislative committee Monday morning.

House Bill 2167, which is patterned after a new law in Oregon, received a "do pass" recommendation in a split vote by the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.

The bill would authorize any school board or school superintendent in Oklahoma to notify the state Department of Public Safety and ask the agency to suspend the driving privileges of any student who is at least 15 years of age and:
* has been expelled for bringing a weapon to school;
* the student has been suspended or expelled at least twice for
assaulting or menacing a school employee or another student; for
deliberate damage to school property; or for threatening, intimidating,
harassing or coercing a school employee or another student.

"We need to do something to get the attention of these children," said Rep. Ray Young, author of HB 2167.

But Rep. Ray McCarter, a retired school superintendent, opposed the measure. "There's not any correlation whatsoever" between the alleged offense and the punishment, the Marlow Democrat asserted. Also, "I think this would give too much latitude to superintendents," McCarter said, and Rep. Mike Tyler concurred.

School administrators "need some type of leverage," replied Young, R-Yukon, and Rep. Fred Perry came to his defense. Juveniles "have to learn there are consequences for their actions," said Perry, R-Tulsa.

Rep. Glen Bud Smithson, D-Sallisaw, mentioned a section of the bill which provides that upon "a second written request" from a school to the DPS, a student's driver's license would be suspended until the youth reached the age of 21. "That's three years past their graduation," Smithson noted.

"I don't see the threat to that school" three years after graduation, echoed Tyler. Besides, the legal system is the proper venue for addressing matters of this nature, the Sapulpa Democrat contended. "This goes around the judiciary to the Department of Public Safety."

HB 2167 is intended to punish "behavior that has no place whatsoever in the school," Young said. "We're trying to provide a safe learning environment for the students in our public schools."

Under existing law, the stiffest penalty for bringing a weapon to school is suspension, he told the committee. However, Young agreed to amend his bill by lowering the age from 21 to "18 or after the student's graduation." He also noted that his bill would allow a student who lost his/her driver's license to appeal to the DPS for reinstatement.

The committee passed the revised bill, 12-4. Voting "aye" were Reps. Bill Paulk, D-Oklahoma City, chairman of the panel; Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, the vice chairman; and Reps. Neil Brannon, D-Arkoma; Stuart Ericson, R-Muskogee; Bill Graves and Mike Reynolds, both R-Oklahoma City; Mark Liotta and Pam Peterson, both R-Tulsa; John Nance, R-Bethany; Mike O'Neal, R-Enid; Perry and Smithson. Opposing the measure
were Reps. Ron Kirby, D-Lawton; Paul Roan, D-Tishomingo, a retired Highway Patrol trooper; plus Tyler and McCarter.

The bill now advances to the calendar for a vote by the entire 101-member Oklahoma House of Representatives.

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