[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 17, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REGARDING THE DUI REPORTING ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 17, 2016

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the DUI Reporting 
Act, a bill I introduced today with my Judiciary Committee colleague 
Steve Chabot.
  If enacted, it would plug a glaring hole in our nation's drunk 
driving laws that inadvertently enables repeat offenders to be tried as 
first time offenders.
  Currently, when police make a drunk driving arrest, they don't always 
have access to information about all of the driver's previous arrests 
for driving under the influence.
  The reason is because not all police report DUI arrests to the 
National Crime Information Center, or ``NCIC'' for short, which is the 
national crime database that is made instantly available to police 
right from their patrol cars.
  The consequences of this lack of reporting can prove tragic. Just 
last year there was a terrible accident in northern Mississippi, just 
outside of my Congressional District. Two teenagers were killed when 
the car they were driving was struck by a drunk driver who had accrued 
seven DUI charges since 2008 and had been allowed to plead guilty five 
times to a first-offense DUI.
  The reason, according to a local investigation, was that none of the 
driver's DUI history had been reported to the NCIC.
  When the highway patrol ran his driving record in the national 
database, his past DUI convictions never showed up.
  This is shameful. This information should be reported so police can 
access it and get drunk drivers off the road.
  Our bill would make that happen, by creating a financial incentive 
for states to require DUI arrests to be reported to the NCIC.
  This bipartisan bill will save lives, and I urge my colleagues to 
help pass it quickly.

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