The following article was posted on www.todaystmj4.com
Legislature Passes OWI Bill
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- On the day state lawmakers overwhelmingly passed drunken driving reform that backers called the most significant change in Wisconsin history, Judy Jenkins stayed at home.
Jenkins, whose pregnant daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter were killed by a repeat drunken driver last year, has been a mainstay in the capital pushing for tougher laws. But she couldn't bring herself to be there to watch the bill pass Wednesday.
"It's really not substantive," she said in a phone interview from her Mequon home. "How is it making changes on the road? Is it making our streets safer?"
Lawmakers passed the bill in reaction to public pressure and an outcry over high drunken driving rates and Wisconsin's weak laws when compared to other states.
The proposal, which takes effect July 1, doesn't include two of the toughest changes that advocates wanted: making all first offenses a crime and legalizing roadside sobriety checkpoints.
Under the bill that passed, a first offense would be a misdemeanor if a child under age 16 is in the car. However, Wisconsin would remain the only state in the country where all other first offenses are treated like traffic offenses, not crimes.
It would make driving drunk a felony on a fourth offense instead of a fifth if it occurs within five years of the previous offense.
The measure also would require ignition interlock devices for all repeat offenders and for first-time offenders who have a blood alcohol level of more than .15 percent, nearly double the legal limit of .08.
The bill includes all the major ideas that were discussed to toughen the law except for criminalizing first offense and sobriety checkpoints, said Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah.
Gov. Jim Doyle said he will sign it.
"It's not everything everybody wanted or everything I wanted, but this is a bill that moves it a long way," he said.
A coalition of more than 50 law enforcement agencies, hospitals and health care workers, politicians and others that formed last year to push for a higher alcohol tax and stronger drunken driving laws praised the bill's passage while also calling for more to be done. The group's spokeswoman, Lisa Maroney, said there needs to be a greater emphasis on first-time offenders.
"It will be incumbent upon the public to continue their outcry," Maroney said.
Maroney's group, Jenkins and others are backing another bill pending in the Legislature that would make all first offenses a misdemeanor whether there's a child in the car or not as well as legalize roadside checkpoints. It was introduced in November by Rep. Peggy Krusick, D-Milwaukee, but has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
Krusick said her bill would compliment what lawmakers passed Wednesday.
"Much more needs to be done to address drunken driving in the state of Wisconsin," she said.
About 41 percent of Wisconsin's traffic deaths in 2008 were alcohol-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, higher than the national average of 37 percent. Last year 208 people died in Wisconsin in crashes involving a driver with a blood-alcohol content of at least .08.
Those pushing for reforms say Wisconsin's laws are out of line with the rest of the country.
In addition to being the only state where the first offense is not a crime, Wisconsin and North Dakota are the only states where drunken driving isn't a felony until the fifth offense, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
It is one of only 12 states that doesn't allow roadside checkpoints.
Passage of Wednesday's bill was delayed while lawmakers worked on reaching a compromise on how to pay for increased prison, probation, treatment and other costs.
The Democratic co-sponsors -- Rep. Tony Staskunas, D-West Allis, and Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa -- ultimately agreed to increase fees on convicted criminals from $20 to $163. The bill would also raise the fee from $60 to $200 for drunken drivers wanting to get their license reinstated after it's been suspended or revoked.
The roughly $15 million a year raised would go toward higher costs related to more people being sent to prison and put on probation and ordered to additional treatment.
The bill passed 93-1 in the Assembly and 33-0 in the Senate.
The lone no vote in the Assembly, Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, said he opposed it because he didn't believe it would do anything to effectively solve the problem of drunken driving.
