JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Attempts to toughen penalties for those who repeatedly get drunk and get behind the wheel in Wyoming have been met with limited success in recent years.
A bill quietly winding its way through the lawmaking process this session could change that.
House Bill 73 surprised even its sponsor, Rep. Erin Mercer, R-Gillette, when it managed the two-thirds vote required for introduction during the budget session. The vote was 54-6.
Now that the bill has cleared second reading, Mercer is feeling more optimistic.
"There is a reasonable chance we can actually make this happen this year," Mercer said after Thursday's vote.
The bill would boost DUI penalties across the board. A third DUI in seven years would be a felony. So would a fifth DUI in the course of a lifetime.
Current law allows up to three drunken driving convictions without the threat of prison; a fourth DUI in five years is a felony.
HB 73 would also prescribe 60 days in jail for a second drunken driving conviction instead of the current seven days, and it would increase the maximum fine from $750 to $3,000. It would boost the fine for a first-time conviction from $750 to $1,000.
Mercer, who lost a relative to a drunken driving crash in the 1980s, said it's time to send a message to those who drink and get behind the wheel.
"I think many people would agree that when you get to your third and fourth (DUI), it's time to throw the book at you," added Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, himself a Teton County prosecutor and a supporter of the bill.
One factor driving support for the bill, Mercer said, is the increasing number of drunken driving convictions in Wyoming.
Total DUI convictions jumped 26 percent between 2002 and 2007, from 3,480 to 4,387, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation driver services program.
Second-time DUI convictions went up 26 percent between 2002 and 2007. Third-time convictions held mostly steady, but fourth-time convictions increased from zero in 2003 to 36 in 2006 and 14 last year, according to WYDOT.
The number of alcohol-related fatal crashes in Wyoming increases 21 percent (from 66 to 80) between 2005 and 2006, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"I think the pressure is just a little higher for people to take a more serious look at these bills," Mercer said.
Rep. Rodney "Pete" Anderson, R-Pine Bluffs, is "all for stronger DUI legislation."
"My opinion is we can't get too strong," Anderson said. "If you drink, you shouldn't drive."
The real test for the bill is the Senate, which has "historically been less friendly to these bills," said Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, who said he may support the bill.
One reason for the Senate's reluctance to increase the penalties is the ever-increasing number of felony laws on the books, said Sen. Grant Larson, R-Jackson.
"Everything is being turned into a felony," Larson said. "When do you draw the line - and I'm not sure this is the place to draw it - but where do you draw the line on what we are going to turn into a felony?
"How many people can we afford to put in jail?" added Larson, who said he is likely to support the bill if it reaches the Senate.
Some lawmakers simply don't think the penalties prescribed in the bill are reasonable. Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, is one of them.
"Five (DUIs) in a lifetime, and you go to Rawlins for a felony?" Bebout said. "No."
The bill may have one more serious handicap this session. The Senate already killed a bill that would have made a third drunken driving conviction a felony.
During a short budget session, the Senate may be reluctant to revisit an issue it already decided, Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said.
"We've already got enough work, and we don't need to take a look at the bill twice," said Schiffer, who had not yet seen Mercer's bill and was not prepared to comment on it specifically.
Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at {M3jared.miller@trib.com.