A last-minute glitch in the state Senate resulted in the failure of a bill that would have given some accused drunken drivers the chance to keep their licenses, despite the proposal being passed by both bodies of the Legislature.
House Bill 4308 would have overturned the state's current practice of revoking licenses of drivers who plead no contest lo drunken driving charges. It got caught in a time crunch Saturday night as lawmakers struggled to pass a flurry of bills, including a high-profile one to change penalties for sex offenders.
The Senate passed the drunken drivers' bill by a vote of 21-13 and the House passed it 67-31. Then at the last moment, delegates changed the wording of the bill's title, a few short sentences that describe the bill's content. Nothing else in the bill was altered, but the Senate still had to take a final voice vote and concur with the minor change.
It did not.
"It was just in the pile of bills and I don't know why it happened," assistant Senate clerk Karl Lilly said Wednesday.
"It's sort of unusual for the House just to amend a title, and I guess someone didn't realize what needed to happen. It was one of the last bills on the desk that just didn't get taken up."
Many lawmakers, both those who supported and those who opposed the controversial measure, thought the bill had passed and survived in tact during the final day of the Legislative session.
"I've beeen getting a lot of calls this morning," Lilly said Wednesday. "A lot of people believe that it passed, apparently."
As late as Wednesday, some critics of the bill were calling for Gov. Joe Manchin to veto it. The governor's office said then he was aware there were concerns about the bill, but he had not seen it in its entirety since passage.
Delegate Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, was among those surprised this week to learn a technical error had killed the measure.
"I thought it had passed, but if it didn't, that's a good thing," said Frich, who opposed the bill.
The bill became a divisive one among lawmakers during the final weeks of the 60-day session. It had strong support from legislative leaders and attorneys, who said the change was necessary to give defendants in drunken driving cases the same rights to an administrative hearing as other accused lawbreakers.
The bill was opposed by anti-drunken driving groups and the state Division of Motor Vehicles, who said it would make it easier for unsafe drivers to keep their driving privileges.
Contact -writer Kris Wise at 348-1244.
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