LINCOLN — Drunken drivers will have to prove their sobriety before getting behind the wheel again, under a bill passed Tuesday by the Nebraska Legislature.
Legislative Bill 667, approved 46-0, was one of two measures sent to the governor recently that crack down on people who drive after drinking.
Both bills create new crimes and stiffen penalties, especially for repeat offenders. The changes will take effect Jan. 1.
Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk, who introduced LB 667, said he expects it will make a difference in preventing injuries and deaths by pushing the use of ignition interlock devices.
Under current law, he said, too many people opt to drive on suspended licenses while awaiting trial and sentencing for drunken driving charges.
That was the case last year with the driver who struck and killed Jessica Bedient, an Omaha newlywed.
Ignition interlocks measure the amount of alcohol in a person’s breath and prevent vehicles from being started by people who have been drinking. A driver generally pays $25 to $50 to have a device installed, plus a daily monitoring fee of about $2. Those fees are paid to the company providing the device.
Currently, drivers arrested on suspicion of drunken driving get a 90-day license revocation. If they agree to use an interlock device, they are allowed to drive during the last 60 days of the revocation period.
LB 667 extends the license revocation period to 180 days but allows people to drive immediately if they agree to use the interlock device.
The longer license revocation is intended to make it less attractive for people to wait that out or to drive with a suspended license.
Once convicted, drunken drivers would be ordered to use the devices.
Also under the bill, $40 of a $45 interlock permit fee would go into a state fund to pay for the devices for low-income people. Currently, the $40 goes to a probation fund.
The bill also creates the new crimes of driving drunk with a child in the car and motor vehicle homicide of an unborn child.
It makes it a felony to knowingly and intentionally providing alcohol to a minor who kills or injures someone because of drinking.
The bill also increases penalties for drinking while boating and extends the law to personal watercraft.
Additional penalties for repeat drunken drivers were approved in a bill passed Friday.
LB 675, introduced by Sen. Pete Pirsch of Omaha, doubles most fines for drunken-driving convictions and increases penalties for hit-and-run drivers involved in accidents that cause a death or serious injury.
Pirsch’s bill makes it illegal for a repeat drunken driver to drive with as little as .02 percent blood-alcohol content.
The limit for other adult drivers is .08 percent.
LB 675 also sets a two-year minimum prison sentence for people convicted of fifth-offense driving under the influence.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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