Bill passed on October 17, 2018!
SB 961 - Help by contacting your state representative and ask that he or she support SB 961
SB 961 broadly targets convicted DUI offenders who continue to drive impaired and/or drive on a suspended license.
Many of the existing DUI-related laws do not distinguish between first time and repeat DUI offenders as well as those that continue to drive on a DUI-related suspended license. SB961 will clearly send the message that repeat DUI offenders will be expected to learn from their mistakes and future DUI-related offenses will result in more serious penalties,
including:
1) Increase penalties for driving while under license suspension due to prior DUI conviction including:
· Repeat convictions
· Involved in crashes with injuries or fatalities
2) Increase penalties for Homicide by Vehicle while DUI or DUID, which is currently a 3 year minimum sentence regardless of offender’s DUI history:
· If convicted of prior DUI, minimum sentence for death is 5 years
· If convicted of 2 or more prior DUIs, minimum sentence for death is 7 years
3) Increase penalties for Aggravated Assault by Vehicle while driving under the influence, when offender has suspended or revoked license due to prior DUI conviction.
4) Create felony penalty for 3rd time DUI conviction within 10 years, if third offense is high BAC of .16 or higher, all other cases, at 4th offense. It should be noted that PA is one of only 4 states that does not treat repeat DUI as a serious and dangerous crime.
We would ask that you contact your state representative and ask that he or she support SB 961.
If you do not know who your state representative is you can go to the following link at the PA government site and enter your address or scroll down to the PA map and click on your county. Once you click on your county, you can then click on your municipality to find your representative, and then click on your representative's name to go to his or her site. From there you will see their photo and mailing address below. Just under their photo, you can click on the envelope to obtain their email address :
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/#address
If you wish, you can click on the below button to obtain a template letter that may be used for your representative:
Thank you.
Pennsylvania Parents Against Impaired Driving
Chris and Susan Demko and the other 25 families of PAPAID
help@papaid.org
www.papaid.org
facebook:papaid.org
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