CS/HB 343 Summary

• Amends the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program to allow notification and citation of persons identified by vehicle owners as having care, custody, and control of vehicles when traffic signal violations occur.

• Establishes a $158 penalty for failing to stop at a traffic control signal, with funds distributed to the General Revenue Fund ($100), Department of Health Administrative Trust Fund ($10), Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund ($3), and local government ($45).

• Requires notification to vehicle owner within 30 days of violation and allows 30-day response period to pay penalty or submit affidavit identifying actual driver; traffic citation must be mailed within 60 days of violation if penalty unpaid.

• Vehicle owners may submit affidavits identifying the person with care, custody, and control of the vehicle, after which that person receives notification and citation procedures; owners of leased vehicles registered to lessees are exempt from liability.

• Photographic, electronic images, or streaming video evidence constitutes rebuttable presumption of violation and is admissible in proceedings; false affidavit submission is a second-degree misdemeanor.

• Effective date: July 1, 2012.