URGENT: Tell Your Representative to Vote YES To Limit Arrests For Minor Traffic Infractions!

HB 574 (Thompson) will limit the arrest of Texas drivers for minor traffic violations. The bill will be heard TODAY by the House and your lawmaker needs to hear from you now!

Texas has thousands of small offenses on the books which are punishable only by a fine, not jail time. From failure to signal a lane change to rolling through a red light to an outdated inspection sticker, these offenses are typically quite minor. But Texas law lets police arrest people for these fine-only offenses and take them to jail.

This leads to abuse of power. According to public arrest data, thousands of Texans get arrested and booked each year on Class C misdemeanor traffic charges for which jail is NOT an allowable punishment. There's no good reason for that.

When Texans are arrested on these low-level offenses, the trip to jail is already a worse punishment than the maximum penalty under law. Just Liberty believes that's wrong, and now we have an opportunity to change it.

With HB 574, the Texas Legislature can make traffic stops safer for both officers and drivers - and reinstate the civil liberties we believe in - by limiting arrests for non-jailable offenses.

Under the proposed legislation, police can still arrest individuals who are in possession of illegal weapons (like Timothy McVeigh) or who are committing other more serious crimes. A driver who is not in breach of the peace or presenting some danger will not be arrested.

Your lawmaker will vote today to decide if this bill moves forward or not. Tell your representative to vote YES for HB 574!
Dear [Rep. Name],

When I saw HB 574 (Thompson) is on the calendar for a floor vote today, and may be heard today or tomorrow, I felt compelled to contact my representative and urge you to vote YES on this important bill to limit arrests for non-jailable offenses, a measure I strongly support. Drivers should not be arrested on minor traffic charges.

Jail is not an authorized punishment for failure to signal a lane change or running a stop sign. For these kinds of petty offenses, Texans should receive a ticket be and be sent on our way.

You can bring back peace, reason, and liberty to Texas traffic stops by ending the unjust arrest of drivers on minor traffic offenses. HB 574 will fix this problem and I would love to see your Yes vote for this bill.

This bill will not stop officers from investigating other crimes during routine stops; it requires that TCOLE create a model cite and release policy for arrests on non-jailable misdemeanors, to be used by local departments in the adoption of local policies.

Local policy must limit such arrests to those where the officer has probable cause to believe that:

- failure to arrest creates a danger to the individual or others; or
- failure to arrest will allow a continued breach of the peace;
- the person will not show up in court.

This makes sense - dangerous criminals who are pulled over for a traffic offense who officers recognize as risks are arrested. The thousands of Texans who are currently arrested for a fine-only offense get to go home, instead. I'm asking you to help ensure that this change happens.

[Your Comment]

Thank you for everything you can do to support this bill and make sure it passes.

Kind regards,

[Your Name]
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