The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Monday that a new state law has changed the grading of certain offenses for driving under the influence.

The legislation created Act 59 of 2022, which is referred to as “Deana’s Law,” and it increases the grading for certain DUI offenses which requires consecutive sentencing for certain repeat DUI offenders, and imposes an 18-month driving privilege suspension for a DUI conviction graded as a felony of the second degree.

According to Jackson Township Police Chief Terry Seilhamer, he hopes the new law will straighten out what exactly classifies as a prior DUI conviction, because sometimes if a DUI arrest hasn’t gone through the court system yet, it might not count as a consecutive conviction.

“That has gone back and forth over the years as to what exactly is a prior conviction for consecutive DUIs,” Seilhamer said. “They are trying to straighten that out and tighten the penalties. What we’ve found is there’s a certain segment of drivers that constitute as really repeat offenders and not just like a second-time offense. There are people with their third, fourth or fifth time. Obviously, they have a problem that needs to be treated, but in the meantime the public needs to be protected.”

According to Pennsylvania State Police communications director Myles Snyder, a person with two prior DUI offenses faces a third-degree felony charge, punishable by up to seven years in prison, when arrested for a third DUI with a blood-alcohol content of 0.16 or higher, a DUI involving controlled substances, or refusing a breath or chemical test.

When previous DUI convictions are three or more, those drivers face a second-degree felony charge, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Snyder added.

The bill passed in the House in November 2021 and was approved by the Senate on July 7 before reaching the governor's desk, and it is now in affect.

“When I was with the state police, we would be getting people for their third, fourth and fifth times,” Seilhamer said. “Initially, the penalties didn’t increase notably. There might be a penalty after the second offense, and then after the third the penalty was generally the same.”

“If you are going to continue to drink and drive, it’s going to cost you more and more now,” Seilhamer added.

According to Seilhamer, the DUI arrest numbers in Jackson Township have remained constant, being that it is a smaller department.

He also said that during his time with Troop D in Butler, which covers a five-county area, the Butler barracks was always one of the top three or four groups in the state with regard to DUI arrests.

“They are very proactive in taking drunk drivers off the road,” Seilhamer said.

Snyder said impaired driving continues to be a problem, and explained how much the state police are involved in getting these drivers off the roadways.

“The Pennsylvania State Police made 539 DUI arrests over the recent five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend,” Snyder said. “This law increases public safety by removing from our roadways the worst offenders, those individuals who fail to take intoxicated driving seriously and continue to operate a vehicle while under the influence despite their previous arrests for engaging in this dangerous and deadly behavior.”