OLYMPIA – The Washington Senate once again has said yes to a bill making a 4th DUI conviction a felony, and sponsor Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said he hopes the 4th unanimous vote in a row will convince the House to take action.

Senate Bill 5105 allows prison terms for impaired drivers when they are convicted four times of driving under the influence during a 10-year period. The bill ends Washington’s outlier status as the state with the highest threshold for a felony conviction. Of the 46 states that allow for felony DUI convictions, Washington is the only one that requires five convictions before prison terms apply.

“The most important thing about this bill is that it will save lives,” Padden said. “Impaired driving is a preventable crime, and tougher penalties for repeat offenders are part of the solution.”

The Senate passed the bill unanimously three times last year, but it ran aground each time in the House. The measure passed again Friday 49-0.
The bill would allow prosecutors to charge impaired motorists with a felony after they have been convicted three times of driving under the influence or other related crimes. The fourth DUI conviction would be a class C felony.

Padden noted that a series of well-publicized drunk-driving accidents in the Seattle area three years ago called attention to the problem of the repeat offender. They included a family struck and killed as it crossed the street, and a woman killed in a head-on accident on the freeway approach to the Evergreen Point bridge. But Padden observed horrific accidents have occurred in every community of the state – Spokane, Yakima and elsewhere.

“This is not a bill aimed at the average person ticketed for DUI,” Padden said. “For most people our system of laws and civil penalties is sufficient, and a ticket serves as a wake-up call that it is time for a change in behavior. But there are others for whom alcohol and drugs are more powerful than any law. These repeat offenders are far more likely to commit vehicular homicides and vehicular assaults, and that is why it is so important to get them off the road.”

Padden worked closely on the bill with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and victims’ families throughout the state. Under the measure, an estimated 276 additional cases each year would be tried as felonies. When fully implemented, the cost to the state would be roughly $10 million every two years.