Committee to hear public comments on OWI bills

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State Assembly lawmakers are scheduled to hear public testimony on legislation that would both require drunken drivers to appear in court and make a first-time drunken driving offense a crime.

Lawmakers on the state Assembly’s Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety will be hearing public testimony on four bills starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday in Room 411 South in the state Capitol.

Among those four bills:

Assembly Bill 18 would make first-time drunken driving offenses a crime. Under current law, a first-time offense amounts a civil forfeiture that results in a citation, unless there was a passenger in the vehicle in question under the age of 16. Offenders have to pay a forfeiture of between $150 and $500 dollars.

AB 18 proposes making a first drunken driving offense a Class C misdemeanor, meaning a person could be fined as much as $500, imprisoned for as many as 30 days, or both.

Separately, Assembly Bill 15 proposes changing state law so that people who receive a citation for drunken driving or driving while intoxicated must appear in court. Under the proposal, a failure to appear in court would result in a default judgment and a $300 surcharge.

Current law gives offenders a choice to either appear in court and plead not guilty, or skip court and pay whateve ticket they had been issued. Generally, failure to appear is considered tantamount to pleading guilty or no contest, according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Reference Bureau.

The committee on Thursday will also be hearing public testimony on Assembly bills 16 and 17.

AB 16 would require courts to impose at least an 18-month prison sentence on people who get a fifth or sixth OWI.

AB 17 would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison on people convicted of homicide by the intoxicated use of a vehicle.

After the hearing, the committee will vote on whether to recommend the bills for adoption. Should any of them get a favorable recommendation, the next step would be a vote in the full Assembly. Follow @erikastrebel