aggravated driving; suspended; revoked; license

HB2498 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
aggravated driving; suspended; revoked; license

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2498

Introduced by

Representative
Way

AN
ACT

Amending sections 13-702 and 28-3473,
Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 28, chapter 8, article 8, Arizona
Revised Statutes, by adding section 28-3484; relating to aggravated driving.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 13-702, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
13-702.

First time felony offenders; sentencing; definition

A. Unless a specific sentence is otherwise provided,
the term of imprisonment for a first felony offense shall be the presumptive
sentence determined pursuant to subsection D of this section.
Except
for
those felonies involving
a
dangerous offense
or if a specific sentence is otherwise
provided,
the court
may
increase or reduce the
presumptive sentence
within the ranges set by
subsection
D of this section
.
Any
reduction
or increase shall be based on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances
listed

in
section 13-701,
subsections
D
and E
and shall be within the ranges
prescribed in
subsection D of this section.

B. If a person is convicted of a felony without
having previously been convicted of any felony and if at least two of the
aggravating factors listed in section 13-701, subsection D apply, the
court may increase the maximum term of imprisonment otherwise authorized for
that offense to an aggravated term. If a person is convicted of a
felony without having previously been convicted of any felony and if the court
finds at least two mitigating factors listed in section 13-701, subsection E
apply, the court may decrease the minimum term of imprisonment otherwise
authorized for that offense to a mitigated term.

C. The aggravated or mitigated term imposed pursuant
to subsection D of this section may be imposed only if at least two of the
aggravating circumstances are found beyond a reasonable doubt to be true by the
trier of fact or are admitted by the defendant, except that an aggravating
circumstance under section 13-701, subsection D, paragraph 11 shall be
found to be true by the court, or in mitigation of the crime are found to be
true by the court, on any evidence or information introduced or submitted to
the court or the trier of fact before sentencing or any evidence presented at
trial, and factual findings and reasons in support of these findings are set
forth on the record at the time of sentencing.

D. The term of imprisonment for a presumptive,
minimum, maximum, mitigated or aggravated sentence shall be within the range
prescribed under this subsection. The terms are as follows:

Felony
���
Mitigated
����
Minimum
����
Presumptive
�
Maximum
�����
Aggravated

Class 2�� 3 years������ 4 years���� 5 years����� 10 years���� 12.5
years

Class 3�� 2 years������ 2.5 years�� 3.5 years��� 7 years����� 8.75
years

Class 4�� 1 year������� 1.5 years�� 2.5 years��� 3 years����� 3.75
years

Class 5�� .5 years����� .75 years�� 1.5 years��� 2 years����� 2.5
years

Class 6�� .33 years���� .5 years��� 1 year������ 1.5 years��� 2
years

E. The court shall inform all of the parties before
sentencing occurs of its intent to increase or decrease a sentence to the
aggravated or mitigated sentence pursuant
to
this
section.� If the court fails to inform the parties, a party waives its right to
be informed unless the party timely objects at the time of sentencing.

F. A person who is convicted pursuant
to section 28-3484 shall be sentenced pursuant to the mandatory minimum
prescribed by that section.� The court may not suspend any part of the sentence
and may not grant probation, a pardon or early release until the person has
served the minimum term of incarceration imposed by section 28-3484.

F.

g.
For
the purposes of this section, "trier of fact" means a jury, unless
the defendant and the state waive a jury in which case the trier of fact means
the court.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 28-3473, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
28-3473.

Driving on a suspended, revoked or canceled license; violation;
classification

A. Except as provided in section 28-3482, a
person may not operate a motor vehicle on a public highway if the person's
privilege to drive a motor vehicle is suspended, revoked, canceled or refused
or if the person is disqualified from driving.

B. A person who violates this section is guilty of a
class 1 misdemeanor
except if the person is found guilty of
violating section 28-3484, the person is guilty of a class 5 felony.

C. Each conviction pursuant to this
section shall be reported to the department, and the department shall maintain
a record of conviction for the purposes of determining repeat offenses for
sentencing purposes under section 28-3484.

END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Title 28, chapter 8, article 8, Arizona
Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 28-3484, to read:

START_STATUTE
28-3484.

Aggravated driving on a suspended license; violation;
classification

A. A person is guilty of a class 5
felony if the person violates section 28-3473 and has been convicted of
five or more separate violations of section 28-3473 within the previous
eighty-four months.

B. A person who is convicted pursuant
to this section shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than
four months. The court may not suspend any part of the sentence and
may not grant probation, a pardon or early release until the person has served
the mandatory minimum of four months imprisonment.

C. For the purposes of this section,
multiple violations of section 28-3473 which arise from the same series
of acts shall be considered one offense.

D. This section applies only to
violations which occurred on or after January 1, 2019.
END_STATUTE