The Senate is considering a bill the House passed earlier this month that would create an Impaired Driver Database to make it easier to prosecute DUI cases at the district court level.
State Rep. Mike Sanders, R-Kingfisher, said the inspiration for House Bill 3146 came after his wife was hit by a drunk driver who already had four DUIs that year, and got his sixth less than two weeks later.
“Those DUIs were in three different counties in four different cities,” Sanders said. “That was a problem because after your second DUI, according to state statute, that's supposed to be moved up to the district courts. That wasn't occurring. The problem was a lot of the cities prosecute. They make a lot of money off of DUIs.”
Under the bill, law enforcement will create an impaired driver arrest report which will be entered into that newly created database.
It would be paid for by establishing a revolving fund in the Department of Public Safety's account in the state treasury.
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