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Committee recommends 'tweaks' to new DUI law

An interim Legislative committee is endorsing what it calls “tweaks” to the new DUI law passed by the 2013 Legislature.

One of the tweaks has to do with the administrative suspensions of drivers’ licenses. State Sen. Kelly Armstrong (R-Dickinson) says under the new law, a person can be picked up for DUI and for refusing to take a breath test. Armstrong says both are class “B” misdemeanors for the first offense, and in the criminal system are treated as one incident. But he says that’s not the case with the Department of Transportation’s administrative process.

"DOT gives you two suspensions," said Armstrong. "It goes into the DOT computer as two suspensions."

Armstrong says DOT is trying to clear that up, so only one suspension is valid. But he says the procedure still needs to be changed.

"If you get a second DUI, DOT would count it as a third," said Armstrong. "That's because it is still in the system as two."

Armstrong says if it's from one driving incident, it should only go in once.

The bill would also make the change retroactive – because Armstrong says there are about 23 licenses that would be affected by this change.

The interim Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the Legislative Management Committee. That committee will decide whether it will be introduced in the 2015 Legislative session.

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