[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 27, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E357-E358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF DUI REPORTING ACT OF 2019

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 27, 2019

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the DUI 
Reporting Act, a bill I introduced today with my colleague, Steve 
Chabot, along with the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
  If enacted, this bill would address the loophole in our nation's 
drunk-driving laws that enables repeat DUI offenders to be charged and 
tried as first-time offenders because of inconsistent reporting.
  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 departments report DUI arrests 
to either the National Crime Information Center, or ``NCIC'' for short, 
or the Next Generation Identification database, or ``NGI,'' which are 
the national crime databases that can be made instantly available to 
police right from their patrol cars.
  The consequences of this lack of reporting can prove tragic. Just a 
few years ago there was a terrible accident in northern Mississippi, 
just outside of my Congressional District. Two teenagers from Memphis 
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.
  When the law enforcement officer ran the suspect's driving record in 
the national database, his past DUI convictions never showed up.
  This is shameful. A DUI somewhere should be recognized as a DUI 
anywhere. It should not matter where you were caught driving drunk. If 
you drive drunk, previous offenses should be recorded and penalties 
should increase so innocent lives can be saved.
  The accrual of multiple first-time DUI offenses is unconscionable and 
must be ended.

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  Our bill will save lives by enacting common-sense, bipartisan reforms 
to harmonize reporting standards for DUI offenses across the states.
  I urge my colleagues to help pass it quickly.

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