New Year Brings Stiffer Penalties For Drunken Driving

All fourth offense drunken driving cases will now be prosecuted as felonies in Wisconsin as a law supported by all but one state lawmaker has taken effect.

A measure passed last year reclassifies all fourth offense drunken driving convictions as felonies and increases penalties for other repeat offenders. Before the change only drivers who racked up four offenses in five years were charged with felonies. According to state Department of Transportation records, 986 drivers were convicted for fourth offense drunken driving in 2015.

Frank Harris, the state governmental affairs director with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said lawmakers must take every action possible to end deaths caused by intoxicated drivers.

“It’s an important step in the right direction and will help give prosecutors more tools to hold drunk drivers accountable,” Harris said.

The state Department of Corrections estimates the new law could cost the state an extra $130 million per year because of increased incarceration. But Harris claims the estimate is inflated the estimate.

“Those are just completely off base because everybody who is arrested for OWI doesn’t get convicted, and even if a person is sentenced to a felony offense, they might not necessarily see any jail time,” Harris said.

The bill increasing penalties for the fourth offense passed with only one state lawmaker, Democratic Assemblyman Fred Kessler, voting in opposition.