HELENA – Gov. Steve Bullock has signed into law a measure that will allow judges to look back 10 years to add penalties for multiple drunken-driving offenders.
Attorney General Tim Fox says his bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Christy Clark of Choteau will create a greater deterrent for drunk drivers and put more offenders into treatment programs.
The attorney general’s office says the previous law allowed a DUI conviction to be counted as a person’s first offense if more than five years had passed since the last one.
Now, judges can add penalties if another DUI is on a person’s record within the last 10 years. A third DUI will count as a third offense regardless of when it happened.
Bullock signed the House Bill 355 on Friday.
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