SALEM - Calling it an opportunity to "right a wrong," state Rep. Andy Olson urged a state Senate committee Monday to pass a measure that would allow innocent motorists to have an unfounded drunken driving arrest expunged from their record.

The Albany Republican sponsored House Bill 2318 in response to a series of bogus DUII arrests by former Officer Dave Cox of the Corvallis Police Department. Three claims of false arrest have been settled by the city, and a fourth is awaiting a trial date.

After their arrest, the motorists in those cases were found not to have been driving under the influence of intoxicants. Although the charges against them were dropped or dismissed, a wrinkle in Oregon law prohibits those arrests from being expunged.

HB 2318 cleared the House and has now been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill got its first hearing before the committee in the Capitol Monday morning.

"House Bill 2318 is a bill that truly rights a wrong," Olson told the committee.

State law allows arrests and even convictions for a wide array of crimes to be removed from the record at a judge's discretion, but not in the case of traffic offenses.

That provision, Olson told the committee members, "has been lurking in the criminal code unnoticed and causing lots of damage to people's lives." The record of an unwarranted DUII arrest can cost innocent people jobs, insurance coverage and college scholarships, Olson said.

Motorists accused of impaired driving are given a breath test to measure blood alcohol content and sometimes a urine test to check for illegal drugs. If both tests come back clean and the charges are dropped by a prosecutor or dismissed by a judge, Olson said, motorists should be able to get their record wiped clean.

The Judiciary Committee continued the hearing to allow time to consider several proposed amendments to the measure.

Olson, a former state trooper, said after the hearing that he was troubled that innocent motorists were paying the price for Cox's overzealous DUII enforcement.

"I'm very frustrated with what happened over at the Corvallis Police Department," Olson said. "I saw this as something that we seriously needed to address."

Asked for a response, Corvallis Police Chief Gary Boldizsar said he couldn't say much because one false-arrest lawsuit was still pending, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize the city's case.

However, he agreed that letting innocent motorists get an unfounded DUII arrest off their record was the right thing to do.

"I personally support Andy's bill," Boldizsar said. "I believe it's a good bill."

Bennett Hall can be reached at bennett.hall@lee.net or 758-9529.