SB1073

THE CONTEXT: Under current law, a person commits obstructing a highway or other public thoroughfare if the person, alone or with other persons, does any of the following: 1) having no legal privilege to do so, recklessly interferes with the passage of any highway or public thoroughfare by creating an unreasonable inconvenience or hazard (which is a class 2 misdemeanor, except that a second or subsequent violation within a period of 24 months is a class 1 misdemeanor); 2) intentionally activates a pedestrian signal on a highway or public thoroughfare if the person's reason for activating the signal is not to cross the highw...

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would add a new form of obstructing a highway or other public thoroughfare involving a person who, having no legal privilege to do so and after receiving a verbal warning to desist, intentionally interferes with either of the following: a) passage on any roadway in or leading to an airport; b) passage on a highway, bridge or tunnel currently holding 25 or more vehicles or people and classifies this new form of the offense as a class 6 felony.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to make the government process for obstruction highway more definite and accountable. It would add a new form of obstructing a highway or other public thoroughfare involving a person who, having no legal privilege to do so and after receiving a verbal warning to desist, intentionally interferes with either of the following: a) passage on any roadway in or leading to an airport; b) passage on a highway, bridge or tunnel currently holding 25 or more vehicles or people, and would also classifies this new form of the offense as a class 6 felony, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.