Our Chicago DUI Lawyers have been following the debates regarding Wisconsin’s re-vamped drunk driving laws.  The new Bill passed the other day after much debate.

Wis. lawmakers pass bill toughening drunken driving laws, but some say they should be tougher

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — On the day state lawmakers overwhelmingly passed drunken driving reform that backers called the most significant change in Wisconsin history, Judy Jenkins stayed at home.

Jenkins, whose pregnant daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter were killed by a repeat drunken driver last year, has been a mainstay in the capital pushing for tougher laws. But she couldn’t bring herself to be there to watch the bill pass Wednesday.

“It’s really not substantive,” she said in a phone interview from her Mequon home. “How is it making changes on the road? Is it making our streets safer?”

Lawmakers passed the bill in reaction to public pressure and an outcry over high drunken driving rates and Wisconsin’s weak laws when compared to other states.

But the proposal, which takes effect July 1, doesn’t include two of the toughest changes that advocates wanted: making all first offenses a crime and legalizing roadside sobriety checkpoints.

What?  What’s a good DUI law if you can’t even violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights at a “sobriety checkpoint”?

Under the bill that passed, a first offense would be a misdemeanor if a child under age 16 is in the car. However, Wisconsin would remain the only state in the country where all other first offenses are treated like traffic offenses, not crimes.

Making Wisconsin the only State in the Union who hasn’t bowed to pressure from groups like MADD.  Bravo, Wisconsin.