Pair of bills makes DUI penalties tougher

BOISE – Driving under the influence or refusing to take a sobriety test could carry stiffer penalties in Idaho under two bills making their way through the Legislature.

HB 582, sponsored by Rep. Bob Ring, R-Caldwell, passed the full House 47-19 on Wednesday. It adds a $250 civil fine to existing penalties for refusing to take a sobriety test.

SB 1397, unanimously approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, increases a driver’s license suspension for first-time test refusal from six months to one year, and from one year to two years for second-time refusals.

It also increases maximum prison sentences for repeat offenders from five years to 10 years for regular DUIs and from 10 to 15 years for DUIs that involve harm to another person, known as aggravated DUIs.

Both bills are backed by the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“The deterrent needs to be stronger, because right now it’s not working,” Heather Reilly of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association told the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee.

Total DUI arrests in Idaho increased by just under 1 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to the Idaho State Police.

Senate Majority Leader and committee member Bart Davis of Idaho Falls expressed concern over lengthening license suspensions. He said losing a driver’s license can threaten offenders’ ability to get to work, hurting their families and turning them into wards of the state.

“Help me have confidence that families are still going to be able to address the various family needs that they have to,” Davis said.

Reilly said exceptions for license suspensions, such as getting to and from work, would still be available under the proposed law.

Davis voted for the bill but said his vote was “enthusiastically for some parts and reluctantly for others.”

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, asked why people who refuse to take sobriety tests but have not been drinking are still penalized.

“If a person is not under the influence, they’re the ones that have the evidence to show that,” Reilly said.

Liz Davis, who spoke for the Idaho chapter of MADD, agreed.

“If you’ve got nothing to lose, why refuse?” she said.

Rep. Bob Schaefer, R-Nampa, questioned the idea of making people prove their innocence through sobriety tests.

“This to me is improper,” Schaefer said. “It’s an affront to our existing constitutional premise.”

But Idaho has what’s known as an implied consent statute, meaning anyone operating a motor vehicle is subject to sobriety tests. Retired state Trooper Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, cited it during the House debate as a reason to support the bill. He said that driving is a privilege, not a right.

Wills is also backing SB 1397.

The Senate committee also heard testimony on SB 1398, which would allow law enforcement agencies to use roadblocks to set up sobriety checkpoints.

Time ran out before all testimony could be heard and a vote taken, so the committee will revisit the bill later.