Committee approves raising DUI assessment fee from $160 to $200

Senator Cyndri Mann presented SB 1192 to the Senate Public Safety Committee, saying the bill would raise the DUI assessment fee from $160 to $200 to help stabilize the supply of independent, certified DUI assessment providers.

Mann told the committee the assessment fee had been lowered in 2008 from $175 to $160 and that she has not been able to determine the reason for that change. She said the professionals who administer these assessments are certified through the department of mental health and face competing demands that make the current fee difficult to justify.

Committee members questioned whether the fee creates a fiscal impact or whether offenders ever fail to pay the assessment. Mann replied, “No, there’s no fiscal impact,” and that assessment fees “would be paid prior to taking the assessment,” similar to other upfront fees in the DUI process.

A do-pass motion on SB 1192 (mover: Senator Kern; second: Senator Brooks) carried on a 7–0 roll call. The clerk recorded aye votes from Senators Brooks, Yek, Kern, Murdoch, Vice chair Hamilton and Chairman Weaver. The chair declared the bill passed by the committee.

The measure now advances from committee. No amendments were recorded during the committee’s consideration.