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Momentum building in Wis. to combat drunken driving
Associated Press - 10/21/2008 7:37 pm
Momentum is building in the Wisconsin Legislature to increase penalties for drunken driving in the wake of two extensive newspaper series on problems associated with drinking in the state.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, along with police officers and family members of drunken driving victims, have been meeting for months. They are looking at a variety of proposals to change current law, including making a first offense criminal instead of a misdemeanor and requiring minimum jail time for all offenses.
Similar attempts in recent years have stalled in the Legislature under intense lobbying from the powerful Tavern League, which represents the state's 13,000 bars. Pete Madland, executive director of the league, said he believes there's momentum to toughen the laws.
But the problem is whether the state will have enough money to enact some of the changes, which will increase the burden on the court system, he said.
There's been a groundswell of support from people who are fed up with drunken driving in the state, said Kari Kinnard, executive director of MADD Wisconsin.
"Something's got to happen, it's that plain and simple," she said. "People are tired of being in danger in the roads."
Two newspaper series have brought newfound attention to the state's love for drinking, and the costs associated with drunken driving. Supporters for changes hope the recent stories will motivate politicians to act.
This week the state's largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is running a five-part series that examines the state's drinking culture and drunken driving. That series follows an analysis and series of stories done by the newspaper group Gannett Wisconsin Media this summer that looked at alcohol's impact in Wisconsin.
The Journal Sentinel series was based on more than 200 interviews and was a year in the making. It reported that Wisconsin leads the nation in the percentage of people who admit to driving under the influence of alcohol and every year since 1995 it has led the nation in binge drinking.
The newspaper also reported that almost two-thirds of people sentenced under a state law that makes a fifth-offense drunken driving a felony spend less than a year in custody. State records show that last year alone one-third of those convicted of drunken driving in Wisconsin were repeat offenders.
Jennifer Bukosky and her 10-year-old daughter were killed in April by a former surgeon who had just pleaded guilty to his third-drunken driving offense two days earlier. Mark Benson was under the influence of a variety of prescription drugs at the time of the Oconomowoc accident.
Now Bukosky's mother and stepfather, Paul and Judy Jenkins of Mequon, are working with lawmakers and others to toughen drunken driving penalties. The Jenkins operate a Web site where supporters can sign a petition and send an e-mail to lawmakers pushing for change. As of Tuesday they claimed to have collected 2,048 signatures from supporters.
Their top priorities are making first-offense drunken driving a crime and requiring a minimum mandatory jail sentence for all offenses.
Other changes they want to see include making the third drunken driving offense a felony, making laws for driving with a revoked or suspended license more strict and requiring ignition interlock for first offenders whose blood alcohol content is 0.16 or higher.
Madland said the Tavern League has consistently supported getting tough on repeat offenders, but it has opposed making the first offense a crime. He said one problem is the cost it will have moving all the cases into the more expensive criminal court system. And, Madland said, a first-time offender who "happens to go over the center line" shouldn't be labeled a criminal.
He is a member of a task force called by Gov. Jim Doyle to examine ways to improve highway safety. Its recommendations are due at the end of the year.
Two separate groups of lawmakers and others are working on bills that could be taken up by the Legislature next year. One group is headed by Democratic state Rep. Peggy Krusick of Milwaukee and the other by state Sen. Alberta Darling, a Republican from River Hills. Both Krusick and Darling are up for re-election on Nov. 4.
No matter who is in charge of the Legislature next year, Judy Jenkins said she believes there will be a push to strengthen the drunken driving laws. After the election she said the two working groups, which she hopes to combine, will work on drafting proposals for the Legislature to consider.
Judy Jenkins said people are fed up and want change.
"Enough is enough already," she said. "And there is momentum, which is what we're counting on."
