Two Republican lawmakers are proposing a bill to make a first-offense drunk driving arrest a crime.
Representative Jim Ott of Mequon and Senator Alberta Darling of River Hills are looking for co-sponsors. Wisconsin is the only state where a first-offense is a ticket and not a crime. Ott and Darling are pushing to make it a misdemeanor crime with a penalty of up to 30 days in jail and 500 dollars in fines.
Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers says he wants to criminalize first-offenses as a deterrent.
