UPDATE March 28, 2019: Reported signed by Governor
UPDATE March 22, 2019: Signed by President of Senate, returned to House.
UPDATE March 19, 2019: Read a second time to the House as amended in the Senate; filed for third reading.
UPDATE March 12, 2019: The Senate voted 32 – 0 – 1 in favor of passage. H 106 was then passed back to the House.
H 106 was introduced in the House on February 7, 2019. Upon its third reading on February 25th, it passed a 55 – 14 -1 floor vote and was referred to the Senate. On February 26th, the bill was referred to the Senate Transportation Committee.
The bill would amend the current “move over” law which required vehicles passing a stationary authorized emergency vehicle with flashing light to do so slowly or to move over a lane where possible. H 106 would make that requirement universal, i.e., applicable to other types of service vehicles displaying flashing lights such as tow trucks, highway maintenance vehicles, utility maintenance vehicles and a vehicle with its emergency hazard lights activated.
Every driver, out of courtesy and concern for safety, should move over if possible to provide room for a vehicle parked on the side or shoulder of the road whether with flashing lights or not. But to make that a mandate with an attached penalty is an overreach that provides more opportunities to issue tickets.