Some Colorado lawmakers aim to lower penalty for driving commercial vehicle without valid license

Some state lawmakers say the penalty for driving an 80,000 pound tractor trailer without a valid license should be the same as driving a car without one.

That's despite three deadly crashes in recent years involving drivers without a commercial driver's license.

Desiree Everts' family is among the victims.

"No one should have to get the phone call that their families are dead," she said.   

To lose one family member is devastating. Everts' loss is incomprehensible. 

"We struggle on a daily to just get through daily life now without all of them," she said. 

In June of last year, a semitruck was traveling 75 miles per hour and crashed into a car on I-25. In an instant, Everts lost five family members. 

"My grandbaby was 3 months old, my first grand baby. Like, she had the rest of her life to live," she said. 

Her grief soon turned to anger when she learned the driver didn't have a commercial driver's license or CDL, which comes with training in how handle a tractor-trailer and random drug testing.

"This is all about safety," said Greg Fulton, head of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association. 

He's fighting to raise the penalty for driving without a CDL.

Two years ago, as part of an overhaul of misdemeanor statutes, the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice or CCJJ, made it a traffic infraction with a $100 fine.

"We essentially would have the same penalty as if somebody was actually driving a Toyota Prius, which is 25 times less in weight. You know, that doesn't make sense," Fulton said.

The Senate agreed and this year changed it to a misdemeanor with possible jail time. But the House changed it back. 

Representative Matt Soper, who amended the bill in the House, says he wants to respect the commission's recommendation.

"Here we have the ultimate stakeholder group in this commission that has judges, DAs.. you know? The attorney general's represented is on it... you have public defenders... just everyone from the law enforcement community that you can imagine that's on the CCJJ and when they have an agreement, I mean it has to be unanimous and this direction that they wanted to go," he said.

Everts says making the penalty weaker is the wrong direction.

"It makes me sick to my stomach," she expressed.

She says until the penalty increases, every family is at risk. 

"It's like a slap on the wrist and that it shouldn't be that. I really want them to think about this and if it was their family members, how they would feel?" she asked. 

Fulton says in addition to the Motor Carriers Association , the Teamsters and AAA also oppose the lower penalty, which is the lowest in the country for driving without a commercial driver's license, even though Colorado is considered one of the hardest states to drive a semitruck in because of the mountains. 

The Senate rejected the House amendment. If the two chambers can't reach a compromise, the Senate bill dies and the penalty remains a traffic infraction with a $100 fine.