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."
More after the jump.
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Rep. Pat McElraft, a Carteret County Republican, then spoke about a constituent named Bob, whose last name she did not give.
"He is a compassionate man, a born-again Christian, has turned his life around since his youth," she said. "He has taken others in; he ministers in prisons; he does everything he can to help society."
She said Bob was convicted of multiple drunk-driving offenses and served time in jail, and is now sober.
"This is the only opportunity that man has to get in a car after being sober for 15 years and take his young daughter to a PTA meeting," she said. "Otherwise he has to take her on the back of a moped or rent a cab."
She said she testified on Bob's behalf at a hearing to get his license restored, but the judge told her the law did not allow it.
Rep. Verla Insko, an Orange County Democrat, said that the law contradicts the message the state should be sending that alcoholics can be reformed.
"The message this outdated law sends is once a drunk, always a drunk," she said.
Rep. Darrell McCormick, a Yadkin County Republican, also told a story about a friend, whom he called "Dave," who got multiple DUI's in a short period of time.
"I can tell you what the last words he said to me were, I'll never have another job, I'll never be able to work again," he said. "Those are the last words I heard him say because that night he took a shotgun and killed himself — because he had no hope."
An amendment by House Republican Leader Paul Stam amended the bill to say that drivers who get their licenses restored could not currently use alcohol. The original bill had said they could not be "excessive" users of alcohol.
The bill passed 89-29 on its third reading and now heads to the House.
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