{"id":1333,"date":"2008-01-30T00:11:15","date_gmt":"2008-01-30T04:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=1333"},"modified":"2008-01-30T00:11:52","modified_gmt":"2008-01-30T04:11:52","slug":"sb-350-bill-adds-jail-time-to-driving-without-license-penalty-ajc-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/30\/sb-350-bill-adds-jail-time-to-driving-without-license-penalty-ajc-report\/","title":{"rendered":"SB 350 – Bill adds jail time to driving without license penalty AJC report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill adds jail time to driving without license penalty<\/strong><\/p>\n

By MARY LOU PICKEL
\nThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
\nPublished on: 01\/30\/08<\/p>\n

Driving without a license in Georgia could become a felony with lengthy jail time under a bill approved by a legislative committee Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The measure could affect illegal immigrants especially, because they are unable to legally obtain a driver’s license in Georgia. Those who are able to obtain a legal state license would see their cases dismissed, which is a provision added this year to a bill vetoed in 2007.<\/p>\n

“It’s a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said bill sponsor Sen. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw), at a hearing of the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.<\/p>\n

Currently a misdemeanor, driving without a license would become a felony after a third violation in five years if the bill passes. The penalty would carry jail time of one to five years and a possible fine of $2,500 to $5,000.<\/p>\n

Wiles said he did not focus on immigration when writing the bill but, instead, public safety.<\/p>\n

“People who aren’t licensed shouldn’t be driving,” he said. “We gotta say, ‘You can’t do it.’ ”<\/p>\n

The bill was approved out of committee 5-4 with black legislators voting against it. Several expressed concerns about racial profiling of people the police think might not have driver’s licenses.<\/p>\n

“I have a certain sensitivity to racial profiling, or as they say in the community, ‘driving while black’ ” said Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Ellenwood). “I’ve been pulled over for no other reason than I’m driving a new car and I happen to be black.”<\/p>\n

“How can I explain to my constituents that I just made it easier for this to be a felony?” he asked.<\/p>\n

Elise Shore of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund spoke against the bill, arguing that such a bill likely would lead police to stop more people “who appear to be of a certain nationality.”<\/p>\n

“People who are in this country illegally will recognize the increased penalties and look for a more hospitable place to live,” bill supporter D.A. King testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society, a group opposed to illegal immigration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire report here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill adds jail time to driving without license penalty By MARY LOU PICKEL The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 01\/30\/08 Driving without a license in Georgia could become a felony with lengthy jail time under a bill approved by a legislative committee Tuesday. The measure could affect illegal immigrants especially, because they are unable to legally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}