AUGUSTA – The mother of a Hallowell teenager who died in a car crash last summer stood next to Gov. John Baldacci as he signed a bill Tuesday that could prevent similar tragedies in the future.

“I think you’re helping a lot of people in the state,” Baldacci told Joni Grant during an emotional ceremony in the governor’s office on the day Nicholas Grant would have turned 20.

Up to now, a motorist who has been ordered as a bail condition not to drive can still hold a driver’s license.

A bill that was rushed through after being given little chance of passage, allows the state to suspend without a hearing the license of someone ordered as a bail condition not to drive.

Supporters say such a law could have prevented the accident last July 17 in which Nicholas Grant died. His brothers Joshua and Matthew attended Tuesday’s bill signing, as did legislators who were instrumental in getting the bill through.

“I thank you all from the bottom of my heart,” Joni Grant said tearfully. “We helped everybody in the state today – I thank you.”

Baldacci told Grant, “You’ve got a lot of friends here.”