The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a study comparing the state Senate’s and Assembly’s versions of drunken driving reform, aligning them with current laws and revealing the bill’s effect at the expense of the budget.

“Additional money would need to be appropriated or agencies would have to reduce their expenditures somehow,” said Jerry Paubr, program supervisor for the LFB.

The Assembly and Senate unanimously passed bills relating to harsher penalties for operating while intoxicated, including increased fees and stiffer sentences for repeat and first-time offenders. The Senate version was authored by Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa, and Rep. Tony Staskunas, D-West Allis, wrote the Assembly bill.

The increased sentence lengths will result in an annualized total of between 391 and 1,270 additional prisoners and between 5,275 and 6,006 additional probationers, according to an LFB summary released earlier this year.

To compensate for the potential increase in prisoners and probationers, taxpayers will have to assume the housing and supervision costs, excluding costs of constructing new correctional institutions.

“You’re looking at an annualized basis, meaning when you see the full effect of the potential increase of the present population [in] a number of years, when you look at that, it’s in the $30 to $40 million to about $70 million range,” Paubr said.

He added the cost of the measure is going to exceed available revenues because it is dependent on how many people are estimated to be sentenced for varying periods of time.

For first-time OWI offenders with a minor under the age of 16 riding with them, the OWI amendment dictates an increase of the current maximum $600 fine and a civil offense to a maximum $1,100 fine, five days to six months of imprisonment and a criminal misdemeanor offense.

The Wisconsin chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has previously expressed urgency for the passing of reform bills but expressed its dissatisfaction with the leniency still included, said Frank Harris, state policy specialist for MADD.

“(Real reform is) making a first offense a criminal misdemeanor, or something more than a glorified traffic ticket, because that’s what it is in Wisconsin. But, quite honestly, Wisconsin cannot be seen as serious on drunk driving until a first offense is treated as something more than a traffic ticket,” Harris said.

Last year alone, 233 people were killed in drunken driving crashes in the state of Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. In the same time period, 4,319 alcohol-related injuries were recorded.

“The OWI reform costs can be offset with higher fees for those who commit the violent crime of drunk driving,” Harris said.

Harris added the impact of this bill will help to save lives and money for the state and prevent injuries. As a result, there will be less people hurt or killed in drunken driving crashes, which will be a less of a fiscal burden on the state of Wisconsin, Harris said.