Lawmaker wants ‘to attack this problem right at the very beginning’
OLYMPIA – The House of Representatives this afternoon unanimously approved a bill (House Bill 1789) seeking tougher anti-DUI laws, including a Tacoma lawmaker’s amendment that would throw a much heavier book at first-time offenders.
“Year after year, we pass laws that dance around the true remedies to this problem,” said state Rep. Steve Kirby, who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee where this DUI bill and similar proposals aimed at getting tougher with drunken drivers have been discussed this year.
“What we need are stronger deterrents to prevent people from becoming repeat offenders. We need to attack this problem right at the very beginning.”
The measure passed by the House and sent to the Senate today stiffens punishment by:
* Requiring a person convicted of reckless driving, under certain circumstances, or negligent driving in the first degree to install an ignition-interlock device.
* Providing that a person charged with certain misdemeanors related to driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug may not receive a deferred prosecution more than once within a 10-year period and not more than twice total.
Kirby this year has prime-sponsored proposed changes to the DUI statutes to stiffen significantly the punishment for drunken drivers, who he maintains have been getting off too easily in our state and nation.
His House Bill 1556 died in the House Rules Committee, but he successfully amended it onto House Bill 1789. The successful bill now would increase the minimum penalties for first-time DUI offenders from:
* One day in jail right now for an offender with a BAC of less than .15 – to three days in jail.
* Two days in jail right now for an offender with a BAC of .15 or more – to seven days in jail.
Certainly, most every citizen has lost a loved one, a friend, a co-worker, or an acquaintance to drunken driving – or perhaps at least knows someone who has been either injured or involved in a DUI accident or arrest.
Kirby is no different.
“A very recent story in our local daily newspaper talked about Frank Blair and his wife, a couple who lost their daughter last year to a drunken driver,” said Kirby, a longtime friend of the victim’s father. “I’ve talked with the Blairs about their loss. I can’t imagine going through their sorrow. No one should ever have to experience that kind of grief.”