North Carolina House Passes Tougher DWI Restrictions

The North Carolina House passed two bills earlier in March with overwhelming support from members that would further toughen DWI penalties in North Carolina. North Carolina already has a reputation as one of the toughest in the country in terms of drunk driving related penalties.

The new bills would:

1. Create a 0.00 limit for all DWI offenders once they recover their driver licenses.
   
2. Enhance punishments for DWI offenders convicted of multiple offenses

The 0.0 bill simply makes consistent across DWI law the fact that when a DWI offender

Currently, North Carolina law makes it a felony if someone is convicted of 3 DWIs and is facing a fourth DWI charge within 10 years of the first DWI’s conviction date. At that point, the offender may be indicted and face a felony conviction.

The bill removes the 10 year restriction, and allows the state to prosecute a person as a felon regardless of when the previous convictions occurred. In addition, the bill reduces the number of prior convictions to two, making the third conviction a felony-eligible conviction.