Penalties for Wisconsin drivers who operate a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants could become more severe if the state Legislature adopts bills a pair of Republicans introduced Monday.
If passed, one of the new bills would allow judges to take a repeat offender’s vehicle away after a third offense.
Another would impose a minimum penalty of 10 years if the offender is convicted of a homicide while operating under the influence and a minimum of six months to three years if a person is injured.
Under current Wisconsin law, those convicted of drunk driving offenses face a maximum penalty of 25-40 years in prison, but no minimum penalty.
Judges will be able to give a sentence shorter than the proposed minimums if the person killed or injured was a passenger in the drunk driver’s car, according to state Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, who introduced the bills.
Ott said the purpose of the legislation is to deter drunk driving, which he said is “completely preventable.”
“I would like to see the behavior change so that less people drive drunk … and ultimately [have] our roads be safer,” he said.
The bills, also sponsored by state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, include two that failed to pass during the last legislative session.
One would make the third drunk driving offense a felony, making the degree of subsequent offenses a level more severe than under current law.
The other would criminalize a first operating while intoxicated offense, which currently is often a civil offense resulting in only a ticket, if the driver’s blood alcohol content is at or above .15. Wisconsin is the only state in which a first offense is not at least a criminal misdemeanor, according to Ott.
“[The legislation is] to give people who do this one more reason to not get behind the wheel when they’re impaired,” he said.
