Goal of legislation is to keep drunk drivers off of the roads

COLUMBUS -- Legislation calling for harsher penalties against repeat drunken drivers could also provide Ohioans with better access to public records on offenders, thanks to an amendment added to a bill by lawmakers Wednesday.
Sen. Timothy Grendell, a Chesterland Republican, is the primary sponsor of Substitute Senate Bill 17, which would require repeat offenders to wear electronic bracelets that monitor alcohol use 24 hours a day while completing probation requirements.
Repeat offenders would lose their license and driving privileges and have their vehicle impounded for a year.
The bill also would allow charges to be brought against individuals who allow known drunken drivers to borrow or otherwise obtain vehicles.
The bill was discussed Wednesday and passed out of the Senate's Judiciary and Criminal Justice Committee, but not before an amendment was added by Sen. Patricia M. Clancy, a Cincinnati Republican, that would establish a statewide database of repeat offenders.
What amendment covered
The amendment, which was OK'd by committee members, covered anyone with five or more drunken-driving convictions over the past 20 years.
The database would be accessible online to the general public and would be updated monthly, Clancy said.
The proposed legislation came, in part, in response to the deaths of two Hiram College students in March 2006 after their vehicle was struck by James D. Cline, an 11-time offender who was fleeing police and whose blood-alcohol content was nearly four times the legal limit.
Cline was convicted in the case last year and sentenced to 38 years in prison.
mkovac@dixcom.com