BATON ROUGE, La. (Mar. 5, 2024) – Governor Jeff Landry signed Senate Bill 7 (SB7) today in a signing ceremony. The bill, one of many to make it out of the second special session, will protect lives by discouraging repeat Drinking While Intoxicated (DWI) offenses.
Introduced by Senator Rick Edmonds and Representative Mark Wright, SB7 utilizes national best standards to prevent recidivism and makes Louisiana eligible to apply for federal funds that address impaired driving. When an interlock device is already mandatory, defendants will utilize it for longer to change behavior and prevent second offenses under the new law. The bill also makes driver’s license suspension time match the use of behavior changing technology. This bill will work toward protecting lives by preventing offenders from committing future offenses.
“Since 2021, 299 people have died in DWI crashes in Louisiana, a 32% increase since 2020,” said Sen. Rick Edmonds as he testified in committee. “These deaths, we believe could be 100% preventable”.
Current law regarding the treatment of first-offense DWI in Louisiana makes Louisiana ineligible to receive specific federal funding geared toward preventing future offenses. A primary function of SB7 is to bring Louisiana up to the national best practices standards so the state is eligible for this additional federal funding. Monies from the grant would be able to be used for any program designed to change behavior for impaired driving.
Louisiana already created an affordability program that allows those on public assistance to get half off fees associated with the use of interlock devices and made other changes to the law last year that help defendant’s get the resources they need to avoid harming themselves and others.
“We want to avail ourselves to best practices nationally which affords us federal monies that would be able to draw down and be able to use to help people that have impairment issues,” said Sen. Rick Edmonds. “You have to change a person’s behavior, and that isn’t easy to do. It takes time.”
The provisions set in SB7 would not only keep the community safer but are necessary to receive federal funding for programs greatly needed in Louisiana.
The full text of the legislation can be found here.
Released by Top Drawer Strategies LLC
