| For Immediate Release | For more information contact: |
| March 8, 2000 | Sandra Whalen (651-296-5529) |
While the House Crime Prevention Committee has received much public attention and praise for toughening penalties for habitual drunk drivers, committee members and staff are also spending time on the arduous task of rewriting drunk driving laws that have been essentially pieced together over the past 20 years, said Committee Chairman Rich Stanek (R- Maple Grove).
'Recodification' is long overdue, Stanek said. Current DWI law is the product of piecemeal legislation dating back into the 1980s, and its complex provisions are located in various statute areas, including transportation and administrative law.
"Current DWI law is so cumbersome, many judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys have trouble charging or defending individuals," Stanek said. "Likewise, it's almost unreasonable to expect defendants to clearly understand the implications of their actions or the charges they face. Tough laws are a poor deterrent if not even law officers fully understand them."
Rewriting the law also responds to critics of tougher DWI laws by acknowledging that the crime has degrees of severity, Stanek said. A change to the law allows clearly defined levels of impaired driving to be determined by certain aggravating factors, such as a prior conviction or loss of license within 10 years, unusually high blood alcohol level, or driving drunk with a child under 16 in the car. The new levels include:
"Third-degree driving while impaired" includes drunk driving while under any of the circumstances recognized in current law. This provision also integrates penalties already in the commercial DWI law, including driving a commercial vehicle while having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more. The new third-degree crime is a misdemeanor offense.
"Second-degree driving while impaired" includes drunk driving with one aggravating factor. The new second-degree crime is a gross misdemeanor offense and a person convicted of it is subject to the administrative penalty of plate impoundment and may be subject to certain mandatory minimum sentencing provisions.
more
"First-degree driving while impaired" includes impaired driving with two or more aggravating factors. The new first-degree crime is also a gross misdemeanor offense. A person convicted of this offense is subject to mandatory custodial arrest as well as the administrative sanctions of plate impoundment and vehicle forfeiture, and may be subject to mandatory minimum sentencing provisions and restrictive pretrial release conditions.
The measure has cleared its committee hurdles and should receive widespread bi-partisan support in the full House, Stanek said. The Senate companion bill is still under consideration in Senate committees.
30