Judicial reform measures headed to Idaho House

Two high-profile judicial reform proposals are headed to the Idaho House.

The Idaho House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted Wednesday to advance legislation implementing new rules for body camera retention policies and revising the penalties for driving without privileges.

Currently, individual Idaho law enforcement agencies decide whether or not they want to implement body-worn cameras because there is no statewide policy on the practice. HB 499 would mandate that recordings with evidentiary value would have to be retained for at least 200 days from the date the recording was made. Recordings with no evidentiary value would be retained for 60 days.

Meanwhile, HB 599 would reinstate driving privileges for people who were previously slapped with suspensions due to not paying court fees, eliminate statutory mandatory minimum jail sentences surrounding driving without privileges, and only classify driving without privileges as a misdemeanor on the third offense.