By Crystal Donaldson
NORMAL – Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is pushing a bill that strengthens the state’s drunk driving laws.
House Bill 5042 would require a judge to explain why they’re rescinding an automatic drivers’ license suspension in DUI cases where the defendant refused to submit to a sobriety test.
“The point here is we want transparency,” said Secretary of State’s spokesman Henry Haupt. “We want to make sure that if someone is not going to be taken off the road and we have to remove their DUI from the statutory summary suspension, we want to know why.
White says this bill plays into his mission of ‘making Illinois road the safest ever.’
“We want safe responsible people behind the wheel,” said White. “We want to make sure that you’re not becoming a distracted driver by texting and driving. We will not support you in your effort to drive while under the influence of alcohol. It’s called tough love.”
The bill moved out of a House committee last week.
Crystal Donaldson can be reached at crystal.donaldson@cumulus.com.
