Hansen to Fight Ticket Quotas in the 2008 Legislative Session - UPDATED

At least one elected official seems willing to look after the interests of the citizens of Ogden

It's the Thanksgiving holiday; and we originally planned to take the day off from blogging, and to use this day to recharge our blogmeister batteries. This afternoon, however, we've become aware of a Weber County Forum topical news story which is breaking on a couple of local broadcast news stations, ABC News Channel 4 and KUTV Channel 2:

Utah Legislator wants ticket quotas abolished
Legislator Says Traffic Tickets Are Municipal Cash Cows.

Yesiree, gentle readers, it's Utah House Legislative District 9 State Representative Neil Hansen who's again spearheading the legislative effort to abolish Utah municipalities' random citizen traffic tax again this year; and it appears (according to our own Capitol Hill sources) that Rep. Hansen will have bipartisan support for his bill during the upcoming 2008 legislative session.

Emerald City's existing ticket quota system has of course been a pet peeve of ours since at least as early as the summer of 2005. We believe Emerald City's ticket quota system is an insult to our citizens and police officers alike.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat this Thanksgiving day to Rep. Neil Hansen, for his continuing efforts to look after the interests of the lumpencitizens of Ogden.

Update 11/23/07 8:48 a.m. MT: Both the Standard-Examiner and Salt Lake Tribune feature this morning the full text of yesterday's broadcast media "ticket quota" story, which apparently originated with the AP Wire Service.

Interestingly, Chief Jon Greiner is quoted as saying that Rep. Hansen "doesn't have any proof of a quota system in Utah;" yet he also admits, paradoxically, that the "department uses the number of citations issued by an officer as part of an annual job review." Here's the documentary proof, from the OPD's own Performance Evaluation (PEP) sheet, gentle readers (see Citations Section, page three, bottom of left column), wherein the number of citations issued is one of more than a dozen criteria the department uses to evaluate performance of Ogden City Police Officers.

We think Hansen's bill will get some real traction in the legislature in the upcoming legislative session. Paul Rolley has been recently raising citizen awareness of the pervasive "ticket quota" problem with recent articles here and here. Not only that, but 2008 is a general election year, where legislators on both sides of the aisle will be posturing as "men and women of the people." What's more, your blogmeister has received reliable information that at least one State Legislative GOP heavyweight is interested on co-sponsoring Hansen's bill.

Smooth sailing? We don't know. But we do believe Representative Hansen's bill will get a lot more favorable attention this year than last.

Update 11/23/07 10:13 a.m. MT: Pursuant to the request of several of our gentle readers, we link here the full text of Rep. Hansen's HB-255, which passed in the House during last year's general legislative session, but narrowly failed in Senate committee, by a 2-2 vote. We have spoken with Representative Hansen about this, and he informs us that this year's bill will be identical in form, without textual revision.