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Georgia Reckless Driving Fines for Injury Trust Fund, Amendment B (2014)

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Amendment B
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TypeAmendment
OriginGeorgia Legislature
TopicState and local government budgets, spending and finance on the ballot
StatusApproved Approveda
2014 measures
Seal of Georgia.png
May 20
Democratic Primary AQs Approveda
November 4
Amendment A Approveda
Amendment B Approveda
Referendum 1 Approveda
Endorsements
Polls


The Georgia Reckless Driving Fines for Injury Trust Fund, Amendment B was on the November 4, 2014 ballot in Georgia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, where it was approved. The measure empowered the legislature to impose additional penalties or fees for the offense of reckless driving. According to Amendment B, the additional penalties are to be allocated to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund.[1]

The amendment was introduced into the Georgia Legislature as House Resolution 1183.[1]

Election results

Georgia Amendment B
ResultVotesPercentage
Approveda Yes 1,735,432 69.84%
No749,49030.16%

Election results via: Georgia Secretary of State

Text of measure

Ballot title

The official ballot title was as follows:[2]

“ Adding reckless driving penalties or fees to the brain and spinal injury trust fund (House Resolution 1183).[3] ”

Ballot summary

The official ballot text appeared as follows:[4]

“ Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow additional reckless driving penalties or fees to be added to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund to pay for care and rehabilitative services for Georgia citizens who have survived neurotrauma with head or spinal cord injuries?

( ) YES
( ) NO[3]

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article III, Georgia Constitution

The measure amended subsection (k) of Section IX of Article III of the Constitution of Georgia:[4]

(k) The General Assembly is authorized to provide by general law for additional penalties or fees in any case in any court in this state in which a person is adjudged guilty of an offense involving driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or reckless driving. The General Assembly is authorized to provide by general law for the allocation of such additional penalties or fees to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund, as provided by law, for the specified purpose of meeting any and all costs, or any portion of the costs, of providing care and rehabilitative services to citizens of the state who have survived neurotrauma with head or spinal cord injuries. Moneys appropriated for such purposes shall not lapse. The General Assembly may provide by general law for the administration of such fund by such authority as the General Assembly shall determine.[3]

Support

Supporters

Officials

Senate

The following state senators voted to place the amendment on the ballot:[5]

Note: A yes vote on the measure merely referred the question to voters and did not necessarily mean these legislators approved of the stipulations laid out in Amendment B.
House

The following state representatives voted to place the amendment on the ballot:[6]

Note: A yes vote on the measure merely referred the question to voters and did not necessarily mean these legislators approved of the stipulations laid out in Amendment A.

Arguments

Joseph Frazier, Chairman of the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission, made the following three points in support of the amendment:[7]

  • "Nobody pays anything except the offender, who often is the cause of these lifelong disabilities."
  • "Some individuals who have this level of disability also require caregivers, like my nurse (certified nursing assistant) who takes care of me, gets me up in the morning, takes me to work, helps me at work, go back home — I have to take a shower and go to bed like everybody else. It requires a lot of money."
  • "We know that a lot of DUIs are being pleaded down to reckless driving and there’s lots of administrative and financial reasons why. One individual might get a DUI or be accused of a DUI and they might be the only breadwinner or they might be the only vehicle driver in the household, and if that one person is the only person who is earning a paycheck… if they were convicted of a DUI or pled guilty to a DUI, then that household could end up in dire straits financially." Therefore, a fee should also be assessed for the offense of reckless driving.

Rep. Rich Golick (R-40) said:

“ Reckless driving is certainly a threat to public safety as is DUI. When you combine that with the fact the funding would occur but for the reducing of the DUI charge to reckless driving, it makes sense to include reckless driving when assessing a fine to benefit the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund.[3] ”
—Rep. Rich Golick[7]

Opposition

Opponents

Officials

Senate

The following state senators voted against placing the amendment on the ballot:[5]

House

The following state representatives voted against placing the amendment on the ballot:[6]

Media editorial positions

See also: Endorsements of Georgia ballot measures, 2014

Support

  • The Augusta Chronicle said, "Vote 'yes.' Those types of injuries often are sustained in vehicle crashes. The logic is obvious."[8]

Opposition

  • The Daily Citizen said, "First, why entrust that money to the government? A private charity is more suitable. And why does the fund need more money? Because revenue from DUI fines is down. If the fines were created to discourage drunken driving, then that plan is working. Why not just increase the DUI fines instead of creating additional bureaucracy?"[9]

Polls

See also: Polls, 2014 ballot measures
Reckless Driving Fines for Injury Trust Fund Amendment (2014)
Poll Support OpposeUndecidedMargin of errorSample size
Todd Rehm
8/24/2014-8/25/2014		 51.46%29.15%19.39%+/-2.471,578
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Georgia Constitution

The proposed amendment was required to be approved by a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature in order to be placed on the ballot. HR 1183 was approved by the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate on March 18, 2014. The measure was enrolled on April 22, 2014.[1]

House vote

March 18, 2014 House vote

Georgia HR 1183 House Vote
ResultVotesPercentage
Approveda Yes 147 96.08%
No63.92%

Senate vote

March 18, 2014 Senate vote

Georgia HR 1183 Senate Vote
ResultVotesPercentage
Approveda Yes 49 92.45%
No47.55%

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Georgia Legislature, "HR 1183," accessed September 3, 2014
  2. ↑ Glynn County Elections, "Georgia 2014 General Election Sample Ballot," accessed September 15, 2014
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Georgia Legislature, "House Resolution 1183 Enrolled," accessed September 3, 2014
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Georgia Legislature, "HR 1183 Senate Votes, accessed October 29, 2014
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Georgia Legislature, "HR 1183 House Votes," accessed October 29, 2014
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Marietta Daily Journal, "‘The need is remarkable’: Voters urged to help spinal injury patients Nov. 4," October 19, 2014
  8. ↑ The Augusta Chronicle, "Three 'yes' votes," October 13, 2014
  9. ↑ The Daily Citizen, "Vote no on Proposal B," October 14, 2014
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