Anti-drunk-driving bill gaining steam
Doug Schneider, Press-Gazette Media 6:07 p.m. CDT October 2, 2015
Reps. Eric Genrich and Andre Jacque plan to announce that a companion bill to their "five strikes and you're out" bill will be authored in the Senate by Sen. Van Wanggaard, a former police officer.
The authors of a bi-partisan bill to permanently revoke the licenses of habitual drunken drivers are poised to announce that a key state senator has signed on to the project.
Reps. Eric Genrich and Andre Jacque plan a news conference next week to announce that a companion bill to their "five strikes and you're out" bill will be authored in the Senate by Sen. VanWanggaard, R-Racine, who chairs the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
"He's a former police officer who has done some work with DUI legislation," said Genrich, D-Green Bay.
Wanggaard joins Republicans Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, in backing the bill, which would authorize permanent revocation of the driver's licensee of a person who has committed five or more OWI offenses, or who has committed three or more OWIs and has two or more convictions for certain felonies involving motor vehicles.
A person whose license is revoked under the bill would not be eligible for an occupational license.
Someone who lost a license under "five strikes and you're out" could reapply for a license after 10 years, but only if the person has not been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in those 10 years, complies with a drug-and-alcohol assessment by an approved public treatment facility, and agrees to be governed by a driver safety plan.
Seventeen Assembly members have committed to co-sponsoring the bill, said Jacque, R-De Pere. They include David Steffen, R-Howard; and Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay.
"We would hope that the public will join us in calling for action," Jacque said.
Genrich modeled the bill after a provision in New York law that allows that state to permanently end the driving privileges of someone who has been caught driving drunk three times within a 25-year span, or had five total OWI convictions. He learned about the legislation in Gannett Wisconsin Media's eight-part series on drunken driving, "Under the Influence."
Wanngaard and Jacque are among the authors of another piece of anti-OWI legislation pending this year.
Senate Bill 222 would close a loophole that allows some convicted drunken drivers to avoid an ignition-interlock-device requirement in their cars by registering the vehicles in the names of family members. Jacque said the bill, which was the subject of a September public hearing, would change the wording of the statute so that the order to use the interlock device applies to the driver, rather than the vehicle.