Source: Safety Programs Section, Wisconsin State Patrol. 

Key provisions of the new law are:

• Penalty Increases

-Criminalizes 1st offense OWI if there is a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle, with an increased penalty of 5-days to 6-months in jail.

-For 3rd offense OWI the mandatory minimum jail time is increased from 30-days to 45-days.  

-Makes 4th offense OWI a Class H felony if committed within 5 years of a prior offense.  

-Requires 7th, 8th, and 9th OWI offenders to serve mandatory minimum prison term of 3 years.  

-Requires 10th OWI offenders to serve mandatory minimum prison term of 4 years. 

-Makes OWI-causing injury a Class H felony if offender has a prior OWI conviction. 

• Vehicle Sanctions 

-Requires court to order Ignition Interlock Device (IID) to be installed on every vehicle owned by offender for 1st offense OWI with BAC of 0.15 or higher, for all 2nd or subsequent OWI offenses, and for chemical test refusal.

-Criminalizes non-compliance with IID court order.

-Criminalizes IID removal/disconnection/tampering/circumvention

-Creates $50 IID Surcharge.

-Prohibits OWI offenders who fail to pay IID Surcharge or who fail to comply with IID order from obtaining an Occupational License. 

• Other Provisions 

-Treats 1st offense OWI-PAC (Prohibited Alcohol Concentration) in 0.08-0.099 range same as all other first offenses.  (Requres AODA Assessment, Driver Safety Plan, payment of OWI surcharge along with all other applicable court costs and penalty assessments; and record of conviction not purged after 10 years.)

-Extends current Winnebago County sentencing model for 2nd and 3rd offense OWI (prohibition with AODA treatment, in exchange for shorter mandatory minimum/maximum jail times)

-Lowers minimum wait period for Occupational License eligibility to 45-days on 2nd and subsequent OWI.

-Increases driver license reinstatement fee from $60 to $200. 

-Increases the court processing fee paid by OWI offenders from $20 to $163 (with $10 retained by the county and the remainder deposited in the General Fund)

-Creates $8.8 million supplemental appropriation for affected state agencies. 

-Creates $6.6 million appropriation for Department of Corrections to provide community probation supervision, to staff a monitoring center, and to fund enhanced community treatment for 2nd and 3rd OWI offenders.   

• Effective the first day after publication for:

-The Department of Administration to submit request to the Joint Finance Committee within 60 days to fund additional positions needed by District Attorneys, Director of State Courts, Department of Corrections, Department of Justice, and Office of State Public Defender related to efforts to process OWI offenses.

-Provisions extending Winnebago County treatment model as a county option statewide.