AB 737

Under current law, whenever a person is convicted of a traffic violation, the

court must, within five working days, forward the record of conviction to the

Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT must then enter the conviction in the

person's operating record maintained by DOT.

This bill requires DOT to contract with a vendor to develop and administer a

driver improvement course and computerized database related to the course. Under

the bill, with exceptions, a person issued a citation for violating a traffic regulation

is eligible to attend the driver improvement course. A traffic regulation is a traffic

law for which the penalty for a violation is a civil forfeiture. The citation for violating

a traffic regulation, or a card provided by the traffic officer issuing the citation, must

advise the person to whom it is issued of certain information relating to the

opportunity to take a driver improvement course. If a person successfully completes

a driver improvement course prior to the date scheduled for the person's initial court

appearance or, if no such date is scheduled, not later than 60 days after the date of

the violation, the provider of the driver improvement course must send a notice of

successful completion of the course to the court having jurisdiction over the citation.

Upon receiving this notice, a court may not forward to DOT a record of conviction for

the traffic regulation violation.

Under the bill, a person is not eligible to take a driver improvement course

under specified circumstances, including the following: 1) the violation occurred

while the person held a commercial driver license or was operating a commercial

motor vehicle; 2) the violation is one for which DOT may assess at least four demerit

points or for which operating privilege suspension or revocation is mandatory; or 3)

the person completed a driver improvement course within the previous 18 months.