Nearly 200 New Oklahoma Laws Take Effect This Week

Oklahomans who drive drunk or fail to stop for a school bus loading or unloading children will face stiff new penalties beginning Tuesday.

Nearly 200 new Oklahoma laws are scheduled to take effect, ranging from sweeping changes to the way civil lawsuits are handled, to new restrictions on abortion, and to criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing the state’s overcrowded prison system.

The enhanced penalties for drunken driving and a separate law that imposes tough punishments on reckless drivers both are the result of legislation pushed by constituents who lost members of their families in traffic accidents.

The Erin Swezey Act, named for an Edmond woman killed by a drunken driver in 2009, will require those convicted of driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or higher to have an ignition interlock device attached to their car for 18 months. A second conviction, even with the minimum BAC level of .08, will require the device for four years, and subsequent offenses will lead to having the lock installed for five years.

“This new law represents an effort to get serious about drunk driving in Oklahoma,” said Keith Swezey, whose daughter was killed when a pickup truck heading the wrong way on the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City smashed head-on into their daughter’s car. “In the past, we’ve treated it like a college prank.

“Erin’s life was cut tragically short by a senseless and 100 percent preventable act.”

Reckless driving also will be targeted for harsher punishment under “Aaron’s Law,” a bill that calls for the immediate revocation of a driver’s license for one year if a driver is convicted of reckless driving, running a traffic light or stop sign that results in great bodily injury, or failing to stop for a school bus loading or unloading children.

The bill was named in honor of 17-year-old Aaron Zentz, a Yukon High School student who was killed in 2009 when a woman with numerous convictions for prior traffic offenses ran a red light and slammed into his car, said Rep. Colby Schwartz, the author of the bill.

“Unfortunately, the only way to address the issue is to make the punishment harsher,” said Schwartz, R-Yukon.

Other enhanced penalties that go into effect Tuesday include those for party hosts who allow underage people to drink alcohol or use drugs. Under the bill, violators can face misdemeanor penalties and fines for the first two violations and up to a $2,500 fine and five years in prison for a third conviction. Current law allows criminal penalties, but only if such actions result in bodily injury or death.

And while legislators were busy imposing harsh new punishments on lawbreakers, they also approved some major changes to the state’s criminal justice system that are designed to reduce the number of inmates in state prisons. Shepherded by House Speaker Kris Steele, his bill would divert low-risk criminals to community sentencing and electronic monitoring programs. The bill also included a provision to limit the governor’s role in the parole process to certain violent or sex-related crimes in an effort to expedite the release of some inmates, but that provision was determined to be unconstitutional.

Oklahoma currently has the nation’s highest incarceration rate for women and the third highest rate overall. The state’s prison population has grown from 22,600 in 2000 to nearly 26,000 now and the budget from $366 million to $483 million last year. More than half of Oklahoma’s inmates are in prison for nonviolent offenses. Steele has said he hopes to change how Oklahoma punishes lawbreakers by being “both smart and tough on crime.”

Another new law will let courtrooms and jails link by video for some hearings, with the defendant’s permission.

New laws that apply to how civil lawsuits are filed in Oklahoma, including a new hard cap of $350,000 for non-economic damages, are scheduled to take effect on Tuesday. The hard cap was part of a so-called “`tort reform” package that also included a requirement that juries be instructed that civil damage awards are not subject to taxation. Lawmakers also approved a bill to eliminate “joint and several liability,” which prevents defendants in civil cases from having to pay judgments that exceed what they were actually responsible for.

Supporters say the changes will reduce insurance costs for businesses and doctors, but many opponents argued the proposals will prevent injured Oklahomans from being properly compensated for their damages.

“Hopefully these reforms will result in more jobs and more businesses looking at Oklahoma as a pro-business state,” said state Sen. Clark Jolley, an attorney and a strong supporter of the changes.

Trial attorneys, like Jacob Diesselhorst of the Nix Law Group, said he anticipates a flood of personal injury cases will be filed in courthouses across the state before the new law takes effect on Tuesday.

“Lawyers almost have a duty to file them, because if they don’t their clients’ rights will be restricted after that,” he said.

Diesselhorst said he believes the $350,000 cap on non-economic damages will ultimately be determined to be unconstitutional.

Two bills that further restrict abortion also were scheduled to take effect on Tuesday. The “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” calls for prison time for doctors who perform abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, presuming a fetus can feel pain after that point. The bill includes an exemption for abortions performed when the life of the mother is at risk or if there is a risk of physical impairment of a “major bodily function.”

A bill that would restrict the ways in which doctors can treat women with abortion-inducing drugs was temporarily blocked by an Oklahoma County judge after a lawsuit was filed challenging the measure.