I was waiting to hear about the Montana State Legislature’s Law and Justice Interim Committee study of Montana’s DUI laws.  They recently met in Helena.  I wondered if they would make any recommendations to toughen our DUI laws or continue to let Montana lead the nation in drunk driving.

So, I was quite peeved when I read the headline, “Lawmakers Told Stiffer DUI Laws Will be Costly”

Good grief.  Costly compared to what?  Safer roads?  Lives saved?

Frankly, these interim committees are kind of joke.  They meet to study issues in more depth because during the regular 90-day session they don’t have enough time.  It is probably tough hitting all those receptions, meeting all those lobbyists, and getting your work done in just 90 days.

So they have these interim committees to spend more of our money, have more meetings, and then tell us what they are studying may be too costly to implement.

If the Montana Legislature doesn’t find some way to pay for it, then they might as well quit.  Seriously, they should step down and let someone who cares about our safety and lives take their place.

One easy way to pay for tougher DUI laws would be to stop having interim committees.  I’m sure given the time I could come up with a few million more dollars in savings from the state coffers – and I wouldn’t raise your taxes either.

Sadly, the Billings Gazette recently reported that so far this year 83 people had died on Montana’s highways with alcohol as a factor.  Maybe you knew one of those 83 people.

Maybe it’s tough to swallow, but unless the Montana Legislature gets serious about drunk driving, there’s a good chance that someone you know will, in some way, be involved in an alcohol-related accident.  They may be killed by a drunk driver.

The bottom line is that the 2011 Montana Legislature should spend less time frequenting the receptions and dinners.  Then they could spend a lot more time finding ways to pay for and pass tougher DUI laws to keep us safer as we travel on Montana’s highways.

We’ll be watching our citizen legislators and call out those who don’t support tougher DUI laws – no matter what reason they give or to which party they belong.