New Graffiti Penalties Proposed : Report: Task force urges suspension or delay of youths’ driver’s licenses, fines for parents, broadening felony category and cleanup programs.

Youths who write graffiti could be forced to wait an extra year to get their driver’s licenses, and their parents could be fined up to $20,000 to repair the damage, under measures proposed Thursday by a county task force.

The Graffiti Task Force, created by the Board of Supervisors in February to propose ways to crack down on the fast-spreading problem, released a report urging the passage of state legislation to strengthen the courts’ ability to punish young offenders.

Among the penal code changes recommended, the task force would lower from $5,000 to $400 the damage that must be done before the crime can be prosecuted as a felony and would make the offenders’ parents liable for the fines. It would also allow public agencies to collect up to $20,000 in damages from the youths or their parents.

The task force proposed to establish a uniform definition of graffiti to prohibit all types of graffiti implements, including large marker pens, paint sticks and etching tools. It also would prohibit possession of them by anyone on public or private property without permission of the owner.

The report also recommends a change in the state Vehicle Code that would permit courts to suspend the driver’s license of a graffiti criminal for a year. And offenders who do not yet have a driver’s license could be required to wait an extra year.

As another source of punishment, youthful offenders might be assigned by the Juvenile Court to work programs to remove graffiti from freeways and public streets, the task force said. But the group also found that existing work programs couldn’t accommodate the increasing number of graffiti offenders being sentenced by the courts.

A program run by the county Probation Department already has been expanded from weekends only to Tuesdays and Wednesdays this summer.

Also, the task force said it has accepted Pacific Bell’s offer of a free public hot-line number for reports of graffiti or acts of such vandalism in progress. That number will be made available soon, according to the report.

The task force also recommended the creation of a new position of a graffiti abatement coordinator within the County Environmental Management Agency to track and assess the various anti-graffiti activities of the cities and county, act as an informational clearinghouse and promote public awareness.