Senate approves substitute to make third DUI a felony and add treatment options

Senators approved a substitute to Senate Bill 4 that increases penalties for repeat DUI offenders and aims to expand sentencing options available in district courts, including the possibility of ordered chemical-dependency treatment.

Sponsor Senator Richards told the Senate the substitute elevates a third DUI conviction to a third-degree felony, establishes a $1,000 fine and converts a 30-day split jail term into 30 continuous days: “This bill ... increases the penalty on the third conviction to make it a third to a third degree felony. It establishes a thousand dollar fine. It also changes ... the 30 day sentence in jail to 30 continuous days.”

Proponents argued the change allows courts greater access to treatment programs and moves repeat offenders out of JP courts and into district courts that can order supervised counseling or long-term treatment. Senator Hilliard said moving repeat cases to district courts “has the great advantage … of being able to have courts that can order counseling or many other things to correct” repeat offenders.

Questions focused on fiscal implications for local governments and whether emphasizing treatment versus incarceration is the better deterrent and rehabilitation path. Senator McAllister asked why the bill’s amended language appeared to change the treatment option; Richards said the sponsor had not intended to remove treatment as an option and that intensive supervised treatment was appropriate for many third offenders.

The Senate adopted the substitute and placed it on the third-reading calendar; the clerk reported the vote as 26 ayes, no nays, 3 absent.