House Bill 1021, originally authored by Rep. Suzanne Crouch (R-Evansville), increases the penalties for motorists who ignore a bus' extended "Stop" arm and then hit and injure a child. Ignoring the sign and injuring a child would be increased a Class A misdemeanor, carrying the toughest misdemeanor sentence available. The Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee approved the bill Tuesday. "Purposely ignoring the law of Indiana and harming another human by that action deserves harsher consequences than what the law currently allows" said Rep. Crouch. "The current law doesn't differentiate between someone who passes a school bus illegally and hits a mailbox versus someone who passes a school bus illegally and hits a child. There is something fundamentally wrong with that." The bill would require the court to recommend that the driver's license be suspended for a person committing this offense. It also increases the offense from a Class A to a Class B misdemeanor, meaning that the maximum fine would be increased from $1,000 to $5,000. The bill, which passed unanimously in the House, is now up for second reading in the Senate. If it passes a second and third reading unchanged, it will be sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels to be signed into law. |
