On Wednesday, both the Assembly and the Senate approved a comprehensive package of reforms that seek to improve public safety on our roadways by addressing the serious problem of drunken driving.  This legislation, which Governor Doyle will sign into law on December 22, takes aim at repeat drunk drivers, imposes stiffer penalties, and expands treatment options.  My colleagues and I believe this legislation will spare more families from the pain of having a loved one injured or killed due to someone’s senseless act of driving while intoxicated.   

While some folks don’t feel this legislation goes far enough, this proposal is a good place to start and it can only have a positive impact on reducing the number of drunken driving incidents. The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the fiscal impact on correctional costs to increase between $47 million and $82 million per year due to longer incarceration times, probation, and treatment options that are required under the bill. Highlights of the bill include the following:
 

Makes a first OWI offense a crime if a child under the age of 16 is in the vehicle. This provision carries the same penalties as if it was a second OWI offense.    Significantly increases the penalties against a person who commits an OWI offense and causes injury to another.   Requires an ignition interlock device (IID) to be installed on the vehicle for a minimum of one year for a second OWI offense and all subsequent OWI offenses, as well as a first OWI offense if the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) is 0.15 or greater.   Significantly increases the penalties for disconnecting, removing, tampering with or circumventing an IID.    Extends the period of license revocation until after the person has completed his or her sentence in jail or prison.   Makes a fourth OWI offense committed within 5 years of a prior OWI offense a felony.   Requires a person who commits a seventh, eight or ninth OWI offense to serve a mandatory minimum of three years in prison.   Requires a person who commits a tenth OWI offense or greater to serve a mandatory minimum of four years in prison.   Closes a loophole in the law whereby first offenders with a BAC between 0.08 and 0.099 currently do not have to pay surcharges and fees or take an alcohol or drug assessment, and the DOT will purge the first offense OWI conviction after ten years. AB 283 retains the first offense OWI conviction permanently on a person's record and requires offenders to pay the surcharges and fees and take an AODA assessment, just like all other OWI offenses.    Allows judges to order probation, assessment, and treatment for second and third OWI offenses with no waiting list.    Allows the expansion of the Winnebago County Safe Streets Treatment Options Program statewide. Under this program, the person's period of imprisonment may be reduced if the offender successfully completes a period of probation that includes alcohol and other drug treatment.   Forbids a court from releasing someone convicted of a third OWI offense or greater back into the community after they have been convicted and are still waiting to be sentenced by the judge if the conviction carries a minimum period of imprisonment. In these cases, the person would remain locked up to serve the minimum period of imprisonment pending sentencing.

Last week, I signed onto a letter and a resolution both urging and authorizing our State Attorney General, J.B. Van Hollen, to pursue every legal means available to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.  The Asian carp is a non-native, invasive species that can grow up to four feet long and weigh over 100 pounds. These fish have destroyed the natural habitat of all the waters they have infiltrated.

The imported fish have been migrating up the Mississippi basin since they escaped their containment ponds in Arkansas. The state of Illinois constructed an electric barrier about 20 miles downstream from Lake Michigan to prevent the Asian carp from migrating through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, where large populations of them currently exist, and into the Great Lakes. No fish physically have been found above the barrier yet, but water samples show at least some fish have been swimming just below the O’Brien Lock and Dam which is about 6 miles from Lake Michigan.

The Michigan State Attorney General filed suit last week against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the State of Illinois, and Chicago’s Sewer authority to close the canal since the electric barrier clearly is not working and the threat of Asian carp getting into the Great Lakes is imminent.  If Asian carp were to get into Lake Michigan, they would devastate our native wildlife and cause incalculable economic loss and irreversible damage to both commercial and recreational fishing on the Great Lakes as well as the tourism industry.

We’ve already seen the devastating effects of invasive species like the zebra mussel and round goby. That’s why I believe that much more aggressive measures need to be taken to avert this impending ecologic and economic disaster posed by the Asian carp. I’m pleased to report that Attorney General Van Hollen quickly answered our call to action, and this week he agreed to use his official position to try to prevent the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes.