Dennis Bixby and his wife, Denise Bixby, hope to see adjustments in the state's vehicular homicide law.

Topeka ? Denise and Dennis Bixby, whose 19-year-old daughter Amanda was killed in a February traffic accident in Leavenworth County, today urged the Legislature to tighten laws concerning fatal wrecks.

The driver of the vehicle that ran a stop sign and killed Amanda was ordered to pay $250 in fines and court costs.

“We have to fix the law,” Dennis Bixby told a House-Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Bixbys say Ricardo Flores, 21, should have been charged with vehicular homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Leavenworth County Attorney Frank Kohl, however refused to pursue the charge, saying that a 2002 Kansas Supreme Court case stated that the mere fact that a driver ran a red light or a stop sign did not satisfy the legal elements required for a vehicular homicide conviction.

Committee Chairman Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, said the panel would consider whether to recommend any changes to the state law.

But some prosecutors told legislators to leave the law as it is, saying that trying to further define what constitutes a higher level of negligent driving would tie the hands of prosecutors.

Dennis Bixby, however, said state law also needs to be changed so that all counties require drug and alcohol testing of people involved at injury and fatal crash sites. And he said the punishment for vehicular homicide should be increased.

Amanda Bixby was killed Feb. 14 in a traffic accident while returning home from work.

She was driving west on U.S. Highway 24-40 just west of Basehor when a sports utility vehicle traveling north and driven by Flores, of Lansing, ran a stop sign at 158th Street, and struck two vehicles, including Bixby’s Ford Taurus along the passenger door. Bixby was dead when emergency personnel arrived on the scene, officials said. Flores was not injured, according to reports.

Officers initially cited Flores for vehicular homicide, failure to yield and driving without a license.

But shortly afterward, Kohl said his office would not level the vehicular homicide charge.

On Aug. 22, Flores pleaded no contest to failure to yield at a stop sign, speeding and driving without a valid license.

Last month, Flores was ordered to pay $250 in fines and spend six months on probation.