The latest news, according to a Phoenix DUI attorney is that the Senate Bill 1069, which is about to be heard by the Arizona State Legislature in the Second Regular Session of 2010, is coming up with a proposal of changing the existing class 6 felony of DUI with a 15 year old person in the vehicle to a class 4 felony. According to the existing Phoenix DUI law, if a person is driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other drugs with a 14 year old or younger child in the vehicle, it will be charged as a DUI offense and they will be subject to the corresponding DUI jail time agreeing to its misdemeanor counterpart.

As thePhoenixDUI lawyersaid, the new Senate Bill makes a proposition to change the designation of the offense from class 6 felony to a class 4 felony. The bill further proposes to increase the punishment to match up to the standard of class 4 felony Aggravated DUI punishment. This punishment, however, is imprisonment for at least 4 months for a first offense. Imprisonment here refers to the person being condemned to the Department of Corrections without being released for work (no work release or work furlough option) – which means 24 hour custody for 4 consecutive months.

Generally the run of the mill Aggravated DUI involves a 3rd DUI conviction within the time span of 7 years. According toPhoenixDUI attorneys,if a person does not get the point after the first 2 DUIs, he or she should be sentenced to the prison immediately after receiving the 3rd DUI. This is agreeable and well-supported by most people. According to the second provision, if a person is DUI convicted while his or her license has been suspended for any reason, then also the person is likely to be imprisoned for 4 months. However, most people think that this punishment is too harsh on a person for a first DUI. Except Maricopa, every county in Arizona does not enforce this type of DUI. They allow a person to plead to a misdemeanor DUI with a misdemeanor driving even on Suspended License tickets. In simple words, most Arizona citizens are unaware of this second type of Aggravated DUI.

It has been decided that in Maricopa County people who gets a DUI while their License is suspended, will straight away go to the prison for a minimum period of 4 months. But, the problem is that more than half of Arizona citizen's, at some point of time had their License suspended. This sort of License suspensions generally takes place at early age, when youngsters are not even aware of the traffic rules. Therefore, as an end result most of the college students get expelled from any State University and or lose their scholarships in addition to a 4 months of imprisonment.

As per a Phoenix DUI lawyer ,it seems that now the State Legislature is eager to add this 4 month penalty to any person, who gets a DUI when and if they have a child aged 15 or below in the vehicle. Although many people may find this penalty not enough for driving under the influence with a child in the car, according to aPhoenix DUI attorneyduring this time of economic crisis, reducing the DUI penalty from class 4 felony to a misdemeanor DUI and a misdemeanor Driving on Suspended License for DUI with a suspended license is quite practical and make much more sense.