Montgomery Advertiser
By Francis X. Gilpin
October 24, 2007

Gov. Bob Riley says legislators in Montgomery must toughen Alabama's drunken-driving law or the state could lose up to $2 million in federal traffic enforcement funds.

The changes proposed by the governor Tuesday are designed to lock up more habitual offenders for longer periods.

"We can change people's whole demeanor on the highway," Riley said during a morning news conference at the Capitol.

The governor was flanked by legislators, prosecutors, state troopers and the executive director of the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The officials said Alabama is saddled with a flawed law that prevents judges from considering all prior driving-under-the-influence convictions when a defendant is sentenced on a new DUI charge.

Kenneth E. Davis, district attorney for Russell County, said prosecutors need all the tools they can get to keep repeat offenders off the roads.

"What we have to do is put them in jail, frankly," Davis said.

Riley is proposing legislation that would:

· double the minimum punishment for defendants convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher;

· require an automatic one-year suspension for first-time offenders with a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher;

· eliminate the five-year limitation on considering prior convictions in the sentencing of habitual DUI offenders; and

· increase the minimum term of imprisonment for a fourth DUI from 10 days to 120 days.

Sen. Rusty Glover, R-Semmes, said Alabama has one of the 10 weakest DUI laws in the nation.

That is because legislators rewrote the law in 2006. Without apparently intending to do so, the rewrite created a loophole for habitual DUI defendants. The Legislature put a five-year limit on how far back prosecutors could go to bring up past DUI convictions at sentencing.

After the state criminal appellate court affirmed that interpretation of the law last month, Attorney General Troy King urged legislators to come up with a fix so repeat DUI offenders cannot benefit from shorter sentences.

Even before that ruling, Riley said he attempted to lift the five-year limit during the 2007 legislative session. But the bill went nowhere in all the political squabbling, he said.

As part of his new legislative package, Riley also wants to make it harder on drivers who are caught with a blood alcohol level of at least .15, almost twice the legal limit at which an automobile operator is presumed to be impaired.

"This is not social drinking," said Peggy Batey, the MADD Alabama executive director. "It's time for Alabama to step up."

In Alabama, a fourth DUI conviction is treated as a felony. If the Riley-backed legislation became law, the mandatory imprisonment for a fourth conviction would increase from a minimum of 10 days to a minimum of 120 days. If the defendant had a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher, the mandatory imprisonment would increase to a minimum of 240 days.

Riley said the enhanced penalties for severely intoxicated drivers are important because the federal government is making those tougher sentences a requirement for states to continue receiving grant funding for traffic enforcement.

The governor said he wasn't sure exactly how the state Department of Public Safety uses Alabama's DUI-related grants today.

But state troopers said they target roads around large public gatherings where a lot of imbibing takes place, such as at the Talladega Superspeedway or at Auburn and Alabama football games, for special DUI patrols.

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