Bill Includes License Removal Option for conviction of Graffiti Vandalism.
Staff
State Capitol
A judge would have the option to take a driver’s license away from a juvenile if he or she is convicted of damaging property with graffiti vandalism in a bill moving through the legislature.
The bill passed the House Finance Committee Tuesday. It was originally introduced after concerns about graffiti in the city of Huntington.
If graffiti has caused property damage less than $1,500 the person or persons responsible would be charged with a misdemeanor. A third offense would be a felony. Damage set at more than $1,500 would be a misdemeanor for the first offense but felonies after that.
The judiciary committee discussed the driver’s license suspension option for several minutes Tuesday and voted down an amendment by Delegate David Walker, D-Clay, to have it removed.
Walker says taking away a driver’s license would be a distraction to a juvenile not a deterrent.
“Do you think for a minute that I cared about my driver’s license when I was 14 or 15-years old?” Walker asked the committee. “I didn’t care one squat about it. I was going to go downtown and do what I wanted to do. I didn’t care what the judge said.”
The state Division of Motor Vehicles also spoke against the driver’s license removal option. The agency says it doesn’t favor connecting license removal with non-driving situations.
But Mercer County Delegate John Frazier, a retired circuit judge, told the committee he would have loved to have the option when he was on the bench.
“The purpose of sentencing is to deter and to prevent this from happening in the future. I can’t imagine anything better than taking their driver’s license or having the possibility of that,” Frazier said.
The bill passed the committee on a voice vote.
THIS IS A GREAT VICTORY FOR THE TOWN OF HUNTINGTON. MAYBE IF MORE TOWNS CRACKED DOWN ON THE YOUTH WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR GRAFFITI VANDALISM TO PROPERTY AND SUSPENDED OR REVOKED THEIR DRIVERS LICENSES, LESS GRAFFITI ATTACKS WOULD HAPPEN. ETS COMPANY SUPPORTS AND APPLAUDS THIS TYPE OF EFFORT BY GOVERNMENTS. ETS COMPANY IS THE MANUFACTURER OF THE WORLD’S BEST GRAFFITI REMOVER FOR MASONRY TAGINATOR AND THE ELITE GRAFFITI REMOVAL PRODUCT FOR SMOOTH AND PAINTED SURFACES TAGAWAY.
Graffiti Vandalism will get your license revoked
