The Times-Picayune reports this morning on a bill pre-filed for the 2009 Louisiana House session that would require persons convicted of two or more drug offenses to carry special driver's licenses, stamped in orange with the words, "controlled substance offender" in orange.
The bill would also require offenders to get specially-colored vehicle license tags with the words "CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES CONVICTION." No word on whether the color would be scarlet.
Both the driver's license and the tag must be held for eight years; the license tag would cost $35 a year in addition to the cost of the regular plate, which is based on the value of the vehicle.
The penalty for not having the tag would be loss of driving privileges for at least 90 days and up to a year, from the date the discovery is made, according to the bill.
The bill, HB11, has been pre-filed (not to be confused with "profiled") by Lafayette Democrat Rep. Rickey Hardy, who said,
"I want to try to embarrass them and identify those who are the drug dealers in a community," Hardy said. "For the first conviction, you get a pass."
He said he feels the bill "will meet constitutional muster."
IANAL, but I do wonder if Rep. Hardy should be too confident about that last.
As there is no specification in the bill on what kind of drug offenses (simple possession, possession with intent, distribution) or what drugs, and as those whose licenses have been reinstated after drunken driving convictions are not required to sport special licenses, and as this is an unusual punishment automatically added to any sentence, my hunch is that some constitutional issues may pop up.