Habitual drunk drivers who permanently lost their license could apply to get it back after ten years of a clean record under a bill passed by the Senate Wednesday.

The issue divided the Senate, as debate ran for several minutes before senators approved the legislation 25 to 20. It now goes back to the House.

The bill would allow the convicted habitual drunk drivers to apply to the Division of Motor Vehicles for their license if they have not violated any traffic laws or alcoholic beverage laws and have not committed any other criminal offense for ten years. 

Opponents questioned whether habitual drunk drivers could truly ever be free enough of alcohol to be trusted to drive. Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat and a lawyer, recalled representing a friend who would stop drinking after being charged with DWI and started again when he got his license back. 

"I knew business would be good within 90 days," said Rand, who opposed the bill.

Sen. Dan Blue, a Raleigh Democrat and lawyer, said the bill gave someone with a decade-long clean record "an opportunity to earn a living for himself and his family, to be productive."

The House passed a bill to allow habitual drunk drivers to get their licenses restored if they had a clean record after 10 years.

State Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Robeson County Democrat, said he filed House Bill 1185 to help people who "screwed up their life early" if they can show they have reformed.

Currently, North Carolinians convicted of being habitual drunk drivers have their licenses revoked for life.

The bill would allow people to petition to get their licenses restored after a decade if they had not had a drinking- or driving-related offenses since. It would allow the state Division of Motor Vehicles to put conditions on their license.

"This is something to allow a person who has had a real problem to straighten their lives out and hopefully find themselves on the straight and narrow," he said.

Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Caldwell County Republican, said the bill sends the "wrong message."

"Drunk driving is still a serious problem," he said. "This statute was enacted beccause we have to recognize that there are some people in this state who have no business with a license. A driving license is a privilege."

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A bill would ensure certain drunk drivers spent a night in jail.

Sen. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat, said he filed the bill because he thinks some first-time offenders don't realize the gravity of their mistake and drive drunk again.

Under the bill, drivers who blow a .20 — more than double the legal limit of .08 percent blood alcohol — would be required to spend at least one night in jail.

Currently, many do only community service, Vaughan said.

"Having practiced law for better than 25 years and seen a lot of jails — at least in the Piedmont — I believe it'll be a great deterrent for most people going in," he said.

An alcohol research center has been funded by drunk drivers.

The Bowles Center on Alcohol Studies has received money from a fee paid by people who had their licenses restored after charges of driving under the influence.

For years, $25 of the $75 fee has gone to the University of North Carolina system to for an endowment for the alcohol research center at UNC-Chapel Hill. Next year, the payments would have totaled about $500,000.

The fee was designed to sunset when the endowment reaches $10 million, which is expected on June 30. Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed to use the half-million dollars to help balance next year's budget.

Rob Nelson, a spokesman for the UNC system, said that the center will now rely on interest from the endowment and grants from national health groups.

Already, some in the state Senate are pushing back.

Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican, has filed a bill that would continue to give the money to the Bowles Center for annual expenses. One of his cosponsors is Democratic Sen. Linda Garrou, a budget writer.

Update: An earlier version of this post was unclear. The $25 fee itself, not just the transfer of money, would expire this summer if no action is taken. 

Gov. Mike Easley is reminding motorists to be careful on the roads.

State and local law enforcement officials will be out in force as part of the regular "Booze It & Lose It" campaign to reduce drunk driving on holidays.

"The holidays are a joyous time that can too quickly turn tragic when drunk driving is involved," Easley said in a statement. "Celebrate smart and if plans include alcohol, designate a sober driver or arrange alternate transportation."

Six people were killed and more than 60 injured last New Year's Eve in car crashes caused by impaired drivers.

The holiday campaign began Dec. 1 and continues through Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Stepped-up patrols and checkpoints using some of the state’s six breath-alcohol testing mobile unit are being held to test possibly impaired drivers on site.

A chronic drunken driver convicted of second-degree murder for killing a woman in a traffic accident in Durham County was denied another trial by the N.C. Supreme Court today.

Kenneth Wayne Maready, 45, is serving a minimum 50-year sentence for killing Kay Stokes, 61, in the wreck three years ago, Dan Kane reports.

The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in January that Maready should get a new trial because a judge allowed evidence from an improper traffic stop minutes before the crash. The appellate court found that Durham County sheriff's deputies did not have probable cause to stop the silver Honda that Maready was driving.

The N.C. Supreme Court found the traffic stop was legal. Deputies pulled over Maready after another motorist told them he was driving erratically, running stop signs and traffic lights. The deputies said he smelled of alcohol and admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages. They planned to arrest him, but he then sped off, telling them he was "not going back to the penitentiary."

He then crashed into Stokes' pickup.

Maready had been convicted six times of drunken driving prior to the accident.

The justices also rejected the lower court's ruling that the trial judge had improperly included Maready's full driving record to be admitted as evidence. The high court sent the case back to the appellate court to address other claims of judicial error made by Maready.

Rep. Joe Boylan admitted he has a problem today.

In a completely unexpected move, the Moore County Republican asked for a point of personal privilege on the floor of the House this afternoon.

Reading from a short note handwritten note on lined paper, he referred obliquely to his April 12 arrest for drunk driving and claims that he harassed state Rep. Tricia Cotham.

"My behavior over the past year has hurt a few of you, disappointed many of you and has reflected poorly on this house," he said. "For that, I am truly and deeply sorry."

Boylan, who lost the Republican primary in May, said that "with the grace of God" and the support of family and friends he would do everything he could to end the day without drinking.

"My name is Joe," he ended, in the classic Alcoholics Anonymous formulation, "I am an alcoholic and I ask for your forgiveness and your prayers."

After a moment of stunned silence, the House clapped for a few seconds — and business moved on to other legislative matters.

Hat Tip: Laura Leslie

Legislation that might free up more than 200 prison beds taken up by illegal immigrants cleared a state Senate judiciary committee today.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand's bill allows the state parole commission to release directly to federal authorities illegal immigrants who have served at least half of their sentences for many nonviolent crimes, Dan Kane reports.

The inmates would then be deported to their home countries.

Senators unanimously supported the bill, though they expressed concern that it may not have enough of a disincentive for the inmates to return back to the United States. If they do and are caught, they would automatically be required to serve the maximum of their sentences.

Parole and correction officials said the legislation would particularly help with illegal immigrants serving time for driving while impaired.

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Rep. Joe Boylan, a Republican from Moore County, received a call for his resignation from a recognizable name but from another country.

Joe Sinsheimer, a former Democratic campaign consultant turned political watchdog, urged Boylan's ouster Monday after the freshman legislator was charged with driving while impaired last week, Mark Johnson reports.

"He has quickly replaced Thomas Wright as the legislature's most embarrassing member," Sinsheimer wrote in an email, referring to the Wilmington lawmaker sent to prison last week.

Sinsheimer dispatched his condemnation from Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. He is living there for six months while his wife completes an academic fellowship.

"My legislative record reflects I've kept all my promises to the people of Moore County," Boylan said Monday. "I promise the people of Moore County I will complete the steps necessary to stop drinking altogether. I'm running for reelection and plan to win."

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