Bill Text: GA HB7 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Right to Travel Act; enact
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-24 - House Second Readers [HB7 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-HB7-Introduced.html
11 LC
34 2781
House
Bill 7
By:
Representative Franklin of the
43rd
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to motor
vehicles and traffic, so as to repeal Chapter 5, relating to drivers' licenses;
provide for a short title; to report the findings of the General Assembly
regarding the constitutionality of certain laws relating to drivers' licenses;
to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
This
Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Right to Travel Act."
SECTION
2.
The
General Assembly finds that:
(1)
Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads
and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose. Licensing
of drivers cannot be required of free people because taking on the restrictions
of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right;
(2)
In England in 1215, the right to travel was enshrined in Article 42 of Magna
Carta:
It
shall be lawful to any person, for the future, to go out of our kingdom, and to
return, safely and securely, by land or by water, saving his allegiance to us,
unless it be in time of war, for some short space, for the common good of the
kingdom: excepting prisoners and outlaws, according to the laws of the land, and
of the people of the nation at war against us, and Merchants who shall be
treated as it is said above.
(3)
Where rights secured by the Constitution of the United States and the State of
Georgia are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation that would
abrogate these rights. The claim and exercise of a constitutional right cannot
be converted into a crime. There can be no sanction or penalty imposed upon an
individual because of this exercise of constitutional rights;
(4)
American citizens have the inalienable right to use the roads and highways
unrestricted in any manner so long as they are not damaging or violating
property or rights of others. The government, by requiring the people to obtain
drivers' licenses, is restricting, and therefore violating, the people's common
law and constitutional right to travel;
(5)
In Shapiro v
Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969), Justice
Potter Stewart noted in a concurring opinion that the right to travel "is a
right broadly assertable against private interference as well as governmental
action. Like the right of association...it is a virtually unconditional
personal right, guaranteed by the Constitution to us all." The Articles of
Confederation had an explicit right to travel; and we hold that the right to
travel is so fundamental that the Framers thought it was unnecessary to include
it in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights;
(6)
The right to travel upon the public highways is not a mere privilege which may
be permitted or prohibited at will but the common right which every citizen has
under his or her right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Under
this constitutional guarantee one may, therefore, under normal conditions,
travel at his or her inclination along the public highways or in public places
while conducting himself or herself in an orderly and decent manner;
and
(7)
Thus, the legislature does not have the power to abrogate the citizens' right to
travel upon the public roads by passing legislation forcing the citizen to waive
the right and convert that right into a privilege.
SECTION
3.
Title
40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to motor vehicles and
traffic, is amended by repealing Chapter 5, relating to drivers' licenses, and
designating said chapter as reserved.
SECTION
4.
This
Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its
becoming law without such approval.
SECTION
5.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.