Much Harsher Penalties For Driving Drunk -- Locke Gives Signature To Crackdown

OLYMPIA - Moments after he signed 13 bills designed to crack down on drunken driving, including one that took 15 years to pass, Gov. Gary Locke said he'd like to do more.

The governor said he was pleased he got to sign a bill yesterday that lowers the amount of alcohol that can legally be in a driver's blood from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. He first supported the idea as a freshman Democratic legislator in 1983 when it was proposed by Republican Gov. John Spellman.

"But personally I would like to lower it even more," to 0.05 percent, Locke said.

For a 160-pound man, that could be the difference between the four drinks that would make him legally drunk today and the two drinks likely to register 0.05 percent on a Breathalyzer. Locke didn't say if he would propose the lower limit any time soon. The move to 0.08 percent and most of the other major drunken-driving bills don't take effect until Jan. 1.

Local governments say they don't yet know how much it will cost to enforce the new regimen.

"Hopefully we will let these DUI bills sit for a few years and see what happens," said Kathleen Gerke of the Association of Washington Cities. "We have 13 bills and we are going to have to help cities figure out what they have to do - not the least of which is train the cops."

Locke vetoed sections from several bills yesterday that would have allowed cities to charge the state for the increased cost of enforcing the legislation. He said in his veto messages that the requirement would have added "an unnecessary additional bureaucratic layer."

The bills are far-reaching.

Arrested for driving drunk, you could lose your driver's license on the spot - even before a trial on the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. If you were driving with an already suspended license, you lose your car instead - again, on the spot, regardless of what happens at trial.

And the effects of the 1998 Legislature's drunken-driving crackdown can stick around even after you get your car and license back. Freed from jail, you could be forced to submit to electronic home monitoring and an ignition-locking device that won't let a driver with boozy breath start a car.

Locke said the 13 bills he signed yesterday "strengthen our laws against drunk driving on all fronts - from the highways to courthouses, jails, prisons and treatment."

The message, Locke said, is, "Pass up that last drink. Get a ride home. Don't take a chance with your life or someone else's."

Locke called the legislation the "highlight of bipartisan cooperation," and it showed in the gang of lawmakers of both parties who surrounded the governor for photographs and official pens at yesterday's signing ceremony.

One of the Legislature's key backers of the tougher laws, Senate Law and Justice Chairwoman Pam Roach, R-Auburn, has said that taken together, the package will make Washington "uncompromising with these criminals."

The legislation was fueled in part by the death of Mary Johnsen of Issaquah. She was killed by Susan West, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.34 percent and had been arrested for drunken driving four times before the accident. Yesterday Johnsen's widower, Keith, attended the signing ceremony. The bill requiring ignition interlocks was named the Mary Johnsen Act.

More than 300 people died in Washington last year from drunken-driving accidents. Locke said an additional 1,000 were injured in the 12,000 accidents that caused more than $500 million in property damage.

The major bills taking effect Jan. 1 are:

-- The reduction in the legal blood-alcohol limit from .10 percent to .08 percent. This was a Locke priority.

He said it won't necessarily result in more arrests because police already stop drivers that are noticeably driving erratically. "It basically tells everyone to drink less before they drive," he said.

-- Automatic suspension of driver's licenses. When a driver is arrested for drunken driving, police will tell them they have to request a hearing from the Department of Licensing within 30 days to argue for keeping their permanent license, or automatically lose their license for 90 days.

At the hearing, the standard for the government to prove the license should be suspended is lower than in a criminal court and the outcome stands no matter what happens at the trial for drunken driving.

-- A once-in-a-lifetime chance to avoid prosecution by entering an alcohol-treatment program. Now drunken drivers can do that once every five years.

-- Electronic home monitoring of repeat offenders after being released from jail.

-- Mandatory ignition locks for drivers arrested with alcohol levels above 0.15 percent. Locke vetoed a section of the bill that would have given mandatory jail time for violations of the requirement.

-- Requiring judges to verify the complete criminal history and driving record of each person brought to trial for drunken driving. People convicted of vehicular homicide would have two years added to their sentence for each prior drunken-driving conviction.

-- Allowing judges and prosecutors to consider drunken-driving convictions dating back seven years, rather than the current five, in making prosecution and sentencing decisions.

Laws that go into effect June 1 are:

-- Impoundment of cars if a motorist is stopped by police and found to be driving with a suspended or revoked driver's license.

Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran said many drunken drivers are found to be driving with suspended licenses. Sidran said that losing a car for 30 days for a first offense will be a powerful incentive for people to clean up their driving habits.

"When you take their cars, their hearts and minds will follow," he said.

-- An increase from $50 to $150 in the amount a driver has to pay to get a suspended driver's license back. The money, estimated at $1.2 million a year, will go to cities and counties to pay for the costs of the new drunken-driving legislation.

-- Allowing police from other states to chase drunken drivers across the Washington border.

-- Requiring judges to consider whether there were passengers in the car when sentencing a drunken driver.

-- Allowing for electronic home monitoring for first-time drunken-driving convictions rather than mandatory one- and two-day jail sentences.

-- Requiring district courts to keep permanent records of drunken-driving convictions.

David Postman's phone message number is 360-943-9882. His e-mail address is: dpostman@seattletimes.com