Sen. approves bill giving law enforcement information on hearing impairment, autism or other health issues that could impact traffic stops

The full Senate has unanimously approved legislation to help prevent the escalation of traffic stops in cases where the driver has hearing impairments, autism or other communication disorders. Sen. Darrell Weaver, R-Moore and Rep. Tammy West, R-Bethany, are the principal authors of House Bill 2516. Weaver said the legislation would allow individuals the option of providing information on medical conditions that could result in communication issues.

“I want to stress, this is entirely voluntary. Under this bill, if a person wanted to provide information about a hearing impairment, autism or other communication disorder, they could do so when they registered their vehicle or renewed their registration,” Weaver said. “That information would be available to law enforcement so that if a traffic stop is made, the officer would know up front that there could be communications issues—the entire goal is to prevent the unnecessary escalation of a stop due to miscommunication.”

Under HB 2516, the person registering the vehicle would have the option of providing information that they are deaf, hard-of-hearing, autistic, suffering from Apraxia or a communication disorder, which is defined as impairment in the ability to receive, send, process and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems.

“For a person with a communication disorder, being pulled over is extremely stressful and frightening—they know their communication impairments can be misinterpreted by a law enforcement officer who is in turn simply trying to do their job,” Weaver said. “If this information can be accessed at the time of the stop, it can change the context from the beginning, helping ensure it doesn’t unnecessarily escalate to the point where force may be used because a medical condition has been misunderstood.”

The legislation now returns to the House for further consideration.