Assembly Bill A8809

                                BILL NUMBER:A8809

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation
to requiring any person convicted of operating a motor vehicle while
under the influence of alcohol or drugs to complete a drinking driver
program as a condition of their sentence

PURPOSE OF BILL:
To ensure that a person convicted of driving a motor vehicle while under
the influence of alcohol or drugs is mandated as a condition of his or
her sentence to participate in the Drinking Driver Program and receive
an evaluation conducted by an addiction professional from an Office of
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services licensed program and require
that the offender pay the cost of the program.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Subdivision 1 of section 1193 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended
by adding a new paragraph to read as follows: "Where the court imposes a
sentence for any violation of section eleven hundred ninety-two or
section eleven hundred ninety-two-a of this article, the court shall
require the defendant, as a condition of such sentence, to complete a
drinking driver program licensed by the office of alcoholism and
substance abuse services and taught by a substance abuse professional
who is credentialed by the office of alcoholism and substance abuse
services pursuant to section 19 07 of the mental hygiene law, and
receive an evaluation conducted by the substance abuse professional
              

teaching the program The fee for attending such program shall be paid by
the defendant.

JUSTIFICATION:
Due to the continued, unnecessarily high number of DWI convictions
throughout the City and State of New York, and because under the current
system many convicted offenders choose not to participate in the Drink-
ing Driver Program and may receive evaluations from individual practi-
tioners or programs with no accountability to OASAS or even no evalu-
ation, it is necessary to mandate that those convicted of DWI
participate, get evaluated by and pay the cost of said programs

The inability of authorities to assure that an individual arrested and
convicted of drunk driving offense does not get out on the road again
under the influence of alcohol is a significant failure of our State
laws and criminal justice system to control drunk driving, This bill
will come a long way to remedy this failure.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
dale on which it shall have become a law.