September 28, 2000

Letter to the Editor
WestSide Pulse

The large number of recent tragedies caused by habitual offender drunk drivers has focused attention on this problem. In spite of one of the toughest DWI laws in the country, repeat offenders are not getting the message.

In 1995, I joined Rep. Porter (R-Anchorage) as a co-sponsor of legislation that made the third DWI offense within five years a felony. Mayor Wuerch, in response to the tragedies occurring in Anchorage, formed a Task Force to come up with suggestions to address what could be done to prevent drunk driving in Anchorage. This Task Force has been meeting and its report is due by October 15th.

Many of us in the legislature have been working on ideas to address this issue. The House Transportation Committee held a hearing in August and I was amazed at some of the statistics shared with the committee. The Department of Public Safety indicated that over the past ten years there have been 61,133 local and state DWI offenses, 30,013 were repeat offenders. There are 15-16 arrests every day. By the time a drunk driver is arrested that person has probably driven over 80 times while drunk. In 1999, all law enforcement agencies made 5,672 arrests for drunk driving.

Approximately 70% of the first-time offenders appear to get the message. The sentence, treatment, fines, and court appearances seem to be working with this group who learn from their mistake. It's the habitual offenders that do the most harm.

I've been working on draft legislation that tries to separate the habitual offender from the motor vehicle. It is not a comprehensive bill. I recognize that a solution involves everything from fines to sentences to treatment and some new approaches; for example, a special DWI court, use of anti-drinking drugs for treatment purposes, and more effective treatment programs. Other legislators are working on different areas of the problem.

My draft proposal involves:

• Increasing fines for all offenses (up to or greater than the PFD).
• Increasing minimum sentences for second and subsequent offenses
• Creating a "habitual offender" classification starting with the third offense (which is still a felony), increasing the fine and sentence, and instituting a lifetime driver license revocation.
• Eliminating the look back provisions. Currently if a person commits a third offense within five years, then the third offense is a felony. If that offense falls outside of the five years, it is not counted as a felony.
• Confiscating the vehicle and license plates of a habitual offender.
• Prohibiting a habitual offender from having any registered vehicles in Alaska.
• Establishing a habitual offender registry so individuals selling vehicles would know that the habitual offender is not entitled to register a car in Alaska.
• Assigning license plates to an individual instead of a vehicle.
• Strengthening the current law that makes it a crime for anyone to allow a person not validly licensed to drive your vehicle.
• Creating a new crime: vehicular homicide that would be a Class A felony. This would kick in if a drunk driver causes the death of an individual. If that drunk driver was previously convicted of DWI, the minimum sentence would be 15 years; otherwise, the minimum sentence would be 10 years.

These are just some ideas that I am drafting into a legislative proposal. I realize that these ideas will cost more money as will any solution to the drunk-driving problem. Are we willing to pay for it? One of the issues facing the legislature will be how to fund any increased penalties, treatment programs, etc. Your ideas, comments, suggestions would be appreciated.

You may contact me:

Sincerely,

Norman Rokeberg
Representative, District 11

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